Foot pain in the morning

[KAMKIM]

Thanks for the ideas, I have had this pain in the morning for quite a while now. When we went to WDW I bought a great pair of sneakers and broke them in really well before we left, by the end of day 2 I wanted to chop my feet off and leave them at the bus stop.

I never considered it to be a real medical issue though....glad I posted thanks again!

 

[KAMKIM]

This sounds like plantar fasciitis. I got plantar fasciitis last year -- it came on about three weeks before we left for Disney. I was having a very hard time walking up and down the stairs in my house -- it was worse first thing in the morning.

I think I got it because I wore flip-flops almost non-stop. I paid the price.

You know what helped me 100%??? CROCS. I wore Crocs and got around just fine at Disney, pain-free. Now they're almost the only thing I wear.

It's worth a try! I've heard mixed reviews about those expensive orthotics. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Really Crocs? My kids love crocs, I never bought myself a pair though..I will try these thanks.

 

[lucas]

That sounds like you may have falling arches. The pain in the side of the arch could be your posterior (SP) tibial tendon. That is what is happening to me at this point. The pain is intense. tendonitis. I am wearing custom orthodics to the tune of $350. I am on my feet all day at work which does not help. If I have 2 or 3 days off in a row my feet feel so much better, but once I go back to work the pain starts all over again. The foot Doc said that there is an operation that could correct the arches, but I looked it up on line. I do not want to go there. Not pretty. I am hoping that the orthodics calm my feet down. Good luck to you.

I don't think it is the posterior tibial tendon, from what I have read about that.

Arch pain (not just heel pain) can be a sign of plantar fasciitis and I think that is my problem. I have tried riding my bike instead of going on my usual walks for a couple of weeks, the brace at night, gel arch supports, stretching exercises and rolling a ball under my foot and it is actually feeling much better the last couple of days.

 

[lovetoscrap]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is NEVER EVER go barefoot! You have to wear shoes at all times--good shoes. Not flip flops or slippers.

I have seen several podiatrists and orthopedists and they all are fine with/ and even recommend Crocs for short distances. They are what I wear in the house, like I would slippers. Of course for going out I have to wear good, well supportive tennis shoes. I actually have expensive orthotic type tennis shoes with orthotics in them. I can't wear dress shoes or anything else.

My case is so bad I am never on my feet barefoot-- including the shower. I have a pair of Crocs that stay in my shower to wear. If your feet are really screaming this another thing to try.

The trick of freezing a water bottle as someone mentioned is a great one. But the most important thing you need to do is to stretch. If you google Plantar Fasciitis you should find the recommended exercises. One easy one to do is to stand on a step with your heels hanging off the back of the step and raise and lower yourself on the ball of your foot. You want to feel the stretch in the arch of your foot. You want to stretch multiple times a day, as often as you can.

 

[Darsa]

Going to the doctor Monday morning for this very same thing. We have a week-long Heritage Tour coming up in February with LOTS of walking around DC, and I'm praying this goes away before then, or the kids I'm chaperoning will see a grown woman cry

My mom has the same issue; doctor ordered her custom made inserts for her shoes and she said they worked like a charm! I tried store-bought ones, and they haven't really helped much at all.

Oh, and I have arches that are very high; I"m not sure how much of a difference that make.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Going to the doctor Monday morning for this very same thing. We have a week-long Heritage Tour coming up in February with LOTS of walking around DC, and I'm praying this goes away before then, or the kids I'm chaperoning will see a grown woman cry

.

You have lots of healing time then. Just make sure you do as told! NO BAREFOOT or flip flops or non supportive shoes! Ice, and lots and lots of stretching exercises. If these don't help or you are just still having some pain before you go then don't hesitate to get a cortisone injection about a week before you go. It isn't the most comfortable thing to have done, but it isnt the worst and it is worth it.


One thing to keep in mind is that you can only have a limited number of cortisone shots for PF (according to the doctors I have seen), so make sure you try these more conservative measures first and that you get the shots when you really need them. I can tell you exactly when mine were because they were all right before a WDW trip! You want to get them about a week before so they have time to really reduce the inflammation and have you feeling better. For some people the day or 2 after the shot are worse than before so you need a few days for it to really start to work.

 

[bookgirl]

I went in about a month ago for extreme pain plus the symptoms you list. Only the pain was up in the back of my heel behind my ankle. Turns out I have a double bone spur. One on the bottom but another on the top right under the tendon. I go in tomorrow for my podetrist appointment, my regular doc gave my Tramadol for the pain and put me on a steroid pack to take away the excessive swelling (my ankles have been swelling for the past year but not really painful so I thought it was just fluid buildup). In the mean time I've been icing every night, motrin (or RX Tramadol when bad) and I've been living in my crocs.
They have great support and with the strap up there's nothing to rub against the back of my foot where the second spur is and where I have the most pain.

I will not do cortisone shots but I may ask for the patches...honestly though I hope they cut them out or dissove them because I don't have the patience for long term therapy. I will defintly be keeping up with this to find out how it goes.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I've got PF and what really helps my feet is wearing Birkenstock's. They're therapeutic in my case. I wish I could wear them all the time, but sandals are not do-able in NJ during the winter months and the clogs are beyond ugly. I tend to wear Bass loafers at the office and change into Birki's when I get home.

 

[OK!]

I had PF when I worked in retail in a store that was a converted older store that had the linoleum or whatever on top of solid concrete. No cushioning whatsoever in the floor. My feet hurt so badly that I had to psych myself up to take that first step after getting up in the morning because I knew it was going to be agonizing (and this is coming from a person who has a tolerance of pain that is, as my orthopedist put it, "freakish.")

Amazingly enough, within the first week of quitting that stupid job (and going straight to another where I was on my feet all day, but on a variety of surfaces), my foot pain was GONE. Haven't had a problem with it since. Stupid concrete floors.

 

[C.Ann]

Anyone else have foot pain when you first wake up in the morning? It cant be my shoe because I have the pain no matter what shoes I wore the day before. It hurts real bad to walk down the stairs in the morning, pain goes away probably 10 15 mins later...

Every day? Both feet? I've had an issue with one foot - maybe 3 times in the past year (and not always the same foot).. I'll go to stand on it in the morning and it hurts so bad it feels like the bones are broken in that foot.. Like you though, after awhile it goes away.. It's really weird.. As I said though, it doesn't happen often, so I've never even bothered to mention it to my doctor..

 

[bookgirl]

Well I had my appointment and they reconfirmed that yes I have two bone spurs, one of which is under my Achilles Tendon, they believe that the tendon is damaged as well as the fact that my calf muscles and tendon are tightened. They have decided to concentrate on healing the tendon first. I am in a air cast for the next month and then I have to reevaluate and maybe begin the job of restreching my muscles and tendon. Cast except when showering and sleeping, ice at night, and Aleve for now. They did not see any sign of PF. He is also going to recomend not haveing surgery or ultrasound (it breaks up the spur without opening the skin) until he sees how the muscle and tendons go. However there was all kinds of PF literature, and I guess they see it alot. I get the feeling that there is a lot of therapy that can make it easier to live with.

The visit was pretty painless, well except for trying to walk and drive with your right foot in a frankenstein boot, . I think you should definetly get a referral to a podietrist.

The pain first thing in the morning and the trouble with stairs was because of the tightning of the tendon and muscle, I couldn't get a full step movement, since the spur was cutting in to the tendon it was irritating the surrounding soft tissue. Don't know if that is the same with PF or not but they said that because my primary didn't imobilize/treat it immeditaly the damage just continued to compound. So if you think you have a problem then get it treated before it becomes serious.