Please diagnose me - bad foot pain and can hardly walk

[ohtobemeagain]

I've had this a couple of times but this time is agony . I can't think of any knocks, I don't do any exercise that could of done it, I just woke up one morning unable to walk

I tried to get a doctors appointment today but they can't see me until next Wednesday and I'm hoping it's bloody well gone by then, I've already had to put up with it for a week!

I can't stretch my foot, as in pointing the toes. I can't bend it at the toes, sort of when you are walking heel - toe, I can't do this, I can only walk flat footed. And more than anything, I can't bear wearing any shoes, my lightest slippers are all I can manage without severe pain, socks are a problem too, but more the getting them on part rather than wearing them.

The pain is over the top of my foot, from the ankle down to the big toe. My big toe and ankle are sort of sore but that's not the main problem. Touching anywhere along that line is very painful.

Oh, I should probably mention it's swollen, but not bruised looking (mind you, I rarely bruise)

Please, please tell me what it is and more to the point, what I can do to make it go away and make sure it doesn't come back.

Gout? I know it sounds like something from the seventeenth century but I know a couple of folk who've had this. Its really painful. Hope you can get it sorted whatever it is.

Ok, we really can't diagnose you on here, sorry. It sounds terribly painful.

I can however tell you that I had something very like this. I had heat and swelling for a short while but intermittent and increasing pain on the top of my foot down to the side. First nurse told me my shoes were too tight. Thanks.

I ended up on crutches as they suspected a serious stress fracture which requires surgical intervention. After 4 weeks on crutches I had an MRI which showed only swelling, no fracture.

Ultimate diagnosis was hypermobility in the (I think) medial cuneiform bone, mid foot. I have known about my hypermobility for years and mentioned it a lot during checks, but people are unreliably informed about it. The non-weight bearing helped a bit with the foot pain but did lots of damage to my knees via muscle atrophy.

Ultimately what helped was more physio and strengthening.

You could however have a nasty stress fracture, particularly if you have increased your training load and have had no obvious acute injury.

Good luck!

Thank you Ona, I did think of gout (I was so desperate I looked at Dr Google ) but it talks about redness, and seems to be more linked to joints. The pictures I've seen don't look anything like it - but they are probably the extremes I suppose.

There is no redness or discolouration, my foot is just bigger than it should be, if that makes sense.

Could it be tendonitis?

www.foot-pain-explored.com/extensor-tendonitis.html

Can you phone your GP out of hours service tonight? It's ridiculous that you have to wait a week fir an appointment. No wonder a and e departments are overloaded.

increased your training load I wish!

It may be lack of exercise, but, sadly, it's not due to too much.

A fracture did occur to me, but not from exercise. I was kneeling for quite sometime the day (or maybe 2 days) before on a hard brick floor. There was no pain at the time, and I was getting up and then kneeling down again a couple of times over about an hour, but surely just pressure on the bone wouldn't break it would it?

happy - I could ring up tomorrow as an emergency and would probably be seen the same day, but I would feel a fraud as I've already had it a week.

I wouldn't go to A&E but would an MIU be ok?

It's unlikely then that it's a fracture but the unusual kneeling could easily cause pain like this if you are hyper mobile. Are you? Ever had pain and stiffness in hips, knees, sacroileac joints, back?

Try the Beighton tests for an indication.

You could try MIU but even an X-ray may not show a stress fracture (which it probably isn't!) and they are more likely to be able to help with acute injury. GP will either advise rest or refer for X-ray I suspect.

To be honest I take everything mysterious like this to my excellent physio. And he fixes me

incogkneeto - Thaks for the link, it does describe the pain quite well, but I did their test and, whilst it was a bit sore, it didn't cause anything like the pain of pushing my toes the other way.

Just going down the other options

Not hypermobile, but at 50 I can say I have had pain and stiffness in most of those joints - usually after gardening

I've got to go for a little while, but please keep the suggestions coming. if nothing else, it's distracting me

Have you tried stretching yr calf muscles? I get terrible pain in one foot esp if my calf spasms. Also hypermobile.

Plantar fasciitis? painful and makes walking difficult.

YouWithTheFace - I have calf pain now, but I think it's from trying not to bend my foot - or from walking with most of my weight on the heel.

RubySparks - I thought that was pain on the bottom of the foot, can it affect the top too? When we first moved here I was diagnosed with Plantars and they thought that was becuase I always walked around barefoot and wasn't used to doing it on such a hard surface (brick floor). I haven't had a bout of that (as far as I know) in about 6 years so I can't really remember the pain iyswim.

As a guess, I'd say tendinitis. Google "extensor hallucis longus" and see if the tendon of this muscle is where your pain is. The job of this muscle is to lift up your big toe, so if doing that hurts, with or without your finger on your toe trying to resist this, that may also indicate this. Ice, ice and ice is helpful wth tendinitis, also ibuprofen and gentle stretching.

Seeing a podiatrist may well be more helpful than a gp.

(Disclaimer - impossible to diagnose over the internet!!)

Probably it might be a extensor tendonitis ( see here www.paincare.org/extensor-tendonitis ) or something else?

Other problems involve sinus tarsi syndrome, sural nerve pain etc....

Absolutely get an emergency appt tomorrow, waiting another week is ridiculous.