Meet our resident doctors, each one of them a barefoot runner!

I could never reproduce the

I could never reproduce the pop on myself either. I just wasn't good at it. You may want to find a doctor that is good at it. That numbness where you describe, including into the ball of the foot, sounds like MN, but it may not be. I used to be able to run up to 17 miles barefoot before the nerve pain really set in to where I had to stop. But then as the neuromas got larger and larger, my miles went down and down. It's something to think about, consider, and possibly see a doctor about. If you have MN, you want to catch it early. All of the many treatments I have had for MN have failed, and only having actual "real" surgery has removed them. Now I am recovering from the surgeries, and we'll see how I am after I'm all healed up. I hope I never have to deal with MN ever again. Let me know what you find out about your pain when you know more.

Did you check the Barefoot-Friendly Docs & Specialists map stickied here and in the Health forum? See if there is someone near you.
 
Do we have any UK or Europe based doctors willing to contribute their knowledge here as well? I couldn't help noticing that all the doctors are US based.
 
I only see one Osteopath on the Barefoot-Friendly Docs & Specialists map located in the UK. Sorry, all of our docs are Yankees. :pompus:
 
It's great to see the clinicians that do participate on this forum, but man, healthcare system, get your act together. There should be x100 as many medical participants. Several of the docs at the hospital I work at (I'm but a measly nurse) are intrigued by my ventures, but all have lame-o excuses why they could never do it.
 
Thank you for the information

Thank you for the information TJ. I tried doing the test on my foot and could not reproduce the pain or get a "pop". My current running "shoes" are Softstar moccassins. The pain comes to my 3rd toe and the numbness is to the balls of the feet. I'm trying to get my footstrike better, working on it alot, and still after mile #6 or 7 the pain/numbness starts. It is relieved by walking though. I did an ice bath on my foot on Sunday, after I ran 13 miles, but I really had no residual pain after the run, just during.

I'm experiencing a similar numbness in my great toe/metatarsal that only lasts while running, followed a few hours later by some mild aches/stiffness in my feet which lasts about 6-24 hours. For now I am attributing it to acclimation to such distances. I'd say it is a potential warning sign that "over doing it" is just over the horizon. This is a key benefit to barefoot running. Your feet are telling you something, you should listen and cut back a bit. If you are not ready then you are not ready. Shoes wouldn't allow your feet to have such feedback, you'd push on and likely end up with real aches and pains. The drive to push on and do better can be our worst enemy.
 
Agreed.

Doesn't sound like Morton's Neuroma, since your big toe is affected, if you were wondering.