Ball of the foot pain is a complex condition to talk about because it can affect many areas of your feet. It can spread quickly and easily; it can be present in one or both of your feet, and the pain can ease at times. To explore this condition is tricky but we are going to do our best to do just that in this article. If you think that the pain in your foot is caused by or is affecting the ball of your foot, then we do recommend seeing a local foot specialist before performing any treatment of the condition. It is vital that you find out what the condition is before treating it as you may make the condition worse rather than better. We with that in mind, let’s explore the feet and all of the areas that can be affected by pain in the balls of your feet.
Pain in the ball of your foot does not just affect the ball of your foot; it can radiate to other areas as well. These areas include the toes, arches and the middle of your feet. It is crucial that you take note of any area where you have felt pain and tell your doctor so that they can accurately diagnose the condition.
The causes of pain in the ball of your foot.
There are a lot of causes for pain in the ball of your foot, it would be very hard for us to go into all of them here, however, here are some of the most common conditions that affect the ball of your foot:
- Flat feet or a high arch
- Bone abnormalities
- Hammer toes
- Thinning or shifting of the foot pad
How to treat pain in the ball of your foot
The treatment that you will be recommended for your pain will depend on what is causing it, and there are plenty of treatments available. In most cases, non-surgical treatments will be recommended first because surgery can affect your feet for up to 12 months and so it is usually only recommended if the non-surgical treatments haven’t worked. Some of these treatments are:
- Stretching your Achilles’ tendons
- Using cold therapy (icing the area)
- Anti-inflammatory medications
- Arch supports
- Shock absorbing shoes
- Metatarsal pads
- Avoiding strenuous activities
- Orthotics
Only after the non-surgical treatments have failed will a foot specialist recommend surgery. The surgery that they recommend will depend on the condition and your general health and so this isn’t something that we will be going into here.
We hope this article has given you some idea as to which conditions can affect the ball of your foot and give you the pain that you are in. If you would like to find out any more information about the conditions mentioned here then you can on our blog, we have a lot of articles on here exploring many conditions that affect the balls of your feet plus other articles about other common foot conditions.