Pain - base of 2nd or 3rd metatarsal plus tight calf

[WiseOldBull]

Have managed to read some of the forums here, not a lot of free time at my end. I’m from Sydney (Down Under) and have been barefoot running, off and on, since 2015 Death Race. Since 2016 a lot a lot of running in Luna’s and most of my running (except at work) barefoot.

Lots of barefoot running (up to 5 miles at a time, 10-15miles a week) since January2018, mixed services of sand, trail and asphalt/concrete. in the past month/6 weeks I have noticed a good level of pain under the pad on my right foot, around the base of the 2nd or 3rd metatarsal. Chiro has unjambed the 2nd once but it is still quite tender to palpitation. Could there be something wrong with my barefoot running technique that is causing this pain?

Being in the military I have to go ‘shod’ mostly at work, although I do push the envelope (comes with the territory of being an old eccentric). I am attending a pose/barefoot running clinic in Sydney 29 July, but that is a month off (& usually little time available for me to see Medical here).

Any advice appreciated.

Bull


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[Jaap Francke]

Excentric stretching always works for me to get rid of tight calves:

 

[migangelo]

Bull,

If you're seeing a chiro you should direct your question back to him. There is no way I can tell what's going on by the little information you give. All i know is your "around 2nd or 3rd met head is tender". It could be tenderness post adjustment, the way you run. I'm sorry but there's too little information and with physical medicine the need to see and get my hands on you are imperative.

Best of luck.

 

[trevize1138]

The biggest improvements for me in terms of injury prevention and running economy came when I figured out how to run a lot longer than 5 miles unshod on pavement. There's a lot of bad form you can sort of get away with running low miles unshod.

My guess as to what's going on is you're still over-striding and/or pushing off with too much force. That's what I was doing about a year ago and it resulted in some pretty beat-up feet when I tried to go past 5 miles. I always advocate a complete focus on just lifting your feet off the ground the second they touch the ground to get away from that. Think of how your bare feet react when you step on something that hurts: they spring right up from the hip flexors.

That's an exaggeration of how every step should be while running. When you fully commit to only focusing on lift you finally start running light on your feet and efficiently.

 

[WiseOldBull]

Thanks for the responses. I totally agree with the speed at which I am ‘not’ raising my feet. The 2nd metatarsal is strained so I am treating that, and gently rolling a golf ball around the end of the joint several times a day. The more I read and learn, the more I understand just what I have been doing wrong!

Ack that it is difficult to make any kind of diagnosis without visual or hands-on ability. We think that the Achilles strain (yep, it’s not calf after all) where it joins the calf is from long-term shortening of the tendon. The very thing I was trying to avoid, barefoot ‘transitional’ injury seems to be the very thing I now have. So it is ice and anti-inflammatories and rest for a few weeks and slowly get my barefoot ‘muscle memory’ back for endurance running.


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