Pain in ball of foot

[Anonymous]

I was working out this morning and the ball of my foot became painful when I stepped on it. I've been massaging it in case it's a strained muscle but it's still painful when I flex my foot or put pressure on it. Any ideas what it could be?

[Anonymous]

It could be a sesamoid injury.

[Anonymous]

My DH broke the bone in the ball of his foot. You need to see a podiatrist because you need a special insert for your shoe that you can only get through a podiatrist. You cannot just buy them on line or at CVS. It is important to get it because it will help spread the pressure off the ball of your foot. Injuries to the ball of your foot take forever to heal btw.

[Anonymous]

Neuroma? Stress fracture?

[Anonymous]

Seismoid bone fracture. Nothing serious and very common. Pain should subside on its own. See a podiatrist if it doesn't.

[Anonymous]

^ Noooooooooo!! Sesamoid fractures are one of the most difficult to heal (if indeed it is a fracture and not just inflammation). The sesamoids have a very limited blood supply, and they take forever to heal after fracture, if they heal at all. Just run a google search and you will see. I also don't think they are common at all, I've had them and have never met anyone else who has, or even knows what a Sesamoid is! But do get to a foot doc ASAP, and let her/him figure it out. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Morton's neuroma.

[Anonymous]

Don't know, I had the same thing off and on for three months, then it disappeared. You can see a doctor (I didn't) but I'd suggest no invasive treatments until you wait it out for a while.

[Anonymous]

Can also be gout (the ball of the big toe is classic) or inflammatory arthritis (if you had a stomach bug within the last couple of weeks).
I went through the whole sesamoid/neuroma go round until an arthritis doctor figured out it was gout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Noooooooooo!! Sesamoid fractures are one of the most difficult to heal (if indeed it is a fracture and not just inflammation). The sesamoids have a very limited blood supply, and they take forever to heal after fracture, if they heal at all. Just run a google search and you will see. I also don't think they are common at all, I've had them and have never met anyone else who has, or even knows what a Sesamoid is! But do get to a foot doc ASAP, and let her/him figure it out. Good luck.

I totally agree and had a similar experience.

[Anonymous]

I had something like this and went to the podiatrist. It was 15 years ago, so I don't remember the details, but he was able to resolve it in his office. I think it was plantar fasciitis and he scraped a certain area of the foot to help heal it.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks for all of your suggestions. It no longer hurts when I flex my foot. There's still pain when I step on it but it's much less than a few days ago. It actually hurts less in flip flops than in sneakers. I haven't worked out since it started hurting but I will try on Monday and see how it feels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Noooooooooo!! Sesamoid fractures are one of the most difficult to heal (if indeed it is a fracture and not just inflammation). The sesamoids have a very limited blood supply, and they take forever to heal after fracture, if they heal at all. Just run a google search and you will see. I also don't think they are common at all, I've had them and have never met anyone else who has, or even knows what a Sesamoid is! But do get to a foot doc ASAP, and let her/him figure it out. Good luck.

I fractured mine almost 2 years ago and I still can't wear high heels (although I can occasionally manage wedges since it doesn't put weight on the ball of my foot so much) and it still hurts when I push on it directly. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I had this happen and shortly after, I saw a wart start to appear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had this happen and shortly after, I saw a wart start to appear.

14:32 here.
I also saw what looked like a wart on the ball of my foot. The podiatrist said it wasn't a wart. This was what he scraped with a scapel.