Why Does My Foot Hurt In The Morning?

I have 3 big vacations I want to take when my kids are a little older. First, I have wanted to see the beaches and wildlife in Australia since I was in high school. Second, I've dreamed of seeing a Hawian beach sunrise ever since my cousin showed my pictures from her vacation.  Third, I’ve loved the idea of staying in an Ireland castle since a friend of mine told me you could rent one for a week! 

Of course with COVID and a 2 year old traveling long distances doesn't sound relaxing at this time. But we did live 😬 through the 4 or 5 hour drive to Fredericksburg. We found a cute little cabin at a winery. Fredericksburg is a beautiful town with lots of trees and hills. We found places to hike with the kids and there is great window shopping on the main street in town. As I was talking about our little trip to Nancy she started to make weird faces as though she is in pain. So I stopped my story and asked her what was wrong. She apologized but she was just thinking about how painful all that walking would be for her. 

I didn't know Nancy suffered for years with pain in the bottom of her feet. She was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis which got bad enough that she had cortisone shots in both of her feet. Thankfully the shots did stop her pain for a while but over time the pain slowly came back. She tried everything! She bought special shoes, she had every type of device that was supposed to stretch the bottom of her foot and rubbed her feet daily if not hourly. Unfortunately, nothing seems to stop the pain. So while I was talking about walking, hiking and shopping all Nancy could imagine was the pain she’d have during and after those things. 

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I listened to Nancy talk about how she dreaded getting out of bed first thing in the morning because the first several steps felt like she was walking on nails. Many days the pain eases up throughout the day if she didn’t sit for too long or walk for too long. 

Basically her feet ran her whole day. 

I knew she would be sceptical that I could help since her doctors had never suggested anything other than cortisone shots to help her pain.  So I just gave her a few suggestions to show her how I could help her.  


Here are the 5 suggestions I gave Nancy..

1. First thing in the morning before getting out of bed try moving your ankle to make your toes point towards your nose then point your foot like you’re stepping on a break several times.  This motion warms up your legs which will reduce the sensation of walking on nails. 
   
2. Keep your feet flat on the floor throughout the day. Many people that sit at a desk for hours have at least one foot resting in a pointed position either from curling their toes under them or from crossing their legs. Once that foot is placed flat on the floor they suffer from stretching all over again just like they do the first thing in the morning. So it's much easier if you just keep your feet flat on the floor.  
   
3. At the end of ice the bottom of your feet. That achy burning sensation at the bottom of your foot is from inflammation. One of the best ways to slow down and stop the pain from inflammation is by ice  for 10 minutes. Some people find they like taking a frozen water bottle and gently rolling it along their feet...that a two in one massage and ice treatment. 
   
4. STOP aggressively stretching or massaging  the bottom of your feet. I completely understand the urge to rub and stretch painful feet but sadly for many people those things just aggravate the injury. Try not stretching the bottom of your foot for just one day and see if that doesn't reduce your pain. 
   
5. Come and see me.  I’m  going to physically examine your ankle and foot. Then I’m going to see how  you walk, in order to find the root cause of your foot pain. Foot pain is very rarely caused by just something being wrong with your foot. Most foot pain is complex and involves your hip. Crazy as it sounds your right foot could hurt because of something that happened to your left leg.  This is what I do. I untangle all the clues your body is giving and create a personalized plan to get you back to running your errands,  booking all the fun vacations and all the activities in between. 
   

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