How often have you shoved your foot into a pair of sneakers that’s just maaaybe a half of a size too small? Or crammed your toes into narrow high heels and teetered around at a party until it feels like your arches will never go back to normal?
Foot pain is alarmingly common: 77 percent of people say they have experienced significant foot pain, according to research by the American Podiatric Medical Association. But it seems like no one’s taking it seriously: Just a third of those surveyed by the APMA say they would seek actually care for foot pain.
“No pain is normal, but it’s not surprising how many people experience it considered the types of shoes we wear,” says Hillary Brenner, D.P.M., a New York-based podiatric surgeon and spokesperson for the APMA. “We neglect our feet. They’re the last things we take care of, but our feet determine whether we’re going to get knee pain, ankle pain, back pain. They are the foundation of our health. Literally. They’re what gets us moving.”
There’s a lot going on in your feet: bones, ligaments, tendons. And causes of foot pain can range from injury and inflammation to structural issues and maladaptations. Not all foot pain is serious, but you should never ignore any aches. Don’t write it off as a side effect of yesterday’s long run, or dancing until late last night; pay attention to your body, learn what feels normal to you, and as soon as you notice something that doesn’t feel normal, head to a foot doctor, or podiatrist.
Here, the eight most common causes of foot pain that every woman needs to know about.
1 PLANTAR FASCIITIS
Heel pain is one of the most common types of foot pain, says Brenner. “The plantar fascia is a thick ligament that runs from the heel to the front of the toe on the bottom of the foot,” she explains. Plantar fasciitis occurs when that ligament gets inflamed, typically due to tension and stress on the heel, which can be caused by wearing shoes with high arches or high-impact activities like running.
If you’re experiencing a sharp, stabbing pain in your heels, try switching to more supportive, wider shoes for a day or two, says Brenner. “But if the pain isn’t improving within that time—and over-the-counter pain meds, ice, or soaking your feet aren’t helping—then you should go to the doctor,” she says.
2 MORTON’S NEUROMA
This condition isn’t very common, but it has been linked to wearing high heels, says Brenner. “A neuroma is an enlargement of the tissue around the nerves between your toes,” she says. “If you wear very narrow, tight, high-heeled shoes that compress the foot, it causes rubbing, which then causes the nerve to thicken.” This can cause your toes to sting or go numb, or lead to a burning pain in the ball of your foot.
Switching to roomier, more supportive shoes can provide relief, but, again, if the pain lasts more than two days, go see a doc.
3 BUNIONS
A bunion is a bump at the joint of the big toe, says Brenner. “A lot of people think, ‘Oh, I put on a pair of shoes and now I have this big, red bump that’s painful at the base of my big toe.’ It doesn’t happen like that; shoes can aggravate the bunion, but they don’t cause it,” she says. Rather, we all have different foot types—overpronator, oversupinator, flat feet, high arches—which, combined with genetics, stress, or certain conditions, can cause instability that shifts your bones and leads to the bunion, explains Brenner. It is possible to get a bunion on the side of the pinky toe, too—that’s called a bunionette.
“If your pain level reaches, say, a five on a scale of one to 10, you should see a foot specialist,” says Brenner. If the bunion is bad enough, it may require surgery to correct.
4 HAMMERTOES
Normally, your toes sit nice and straight, but when you have a hammertoe, your toe is sitting almost like a claw, with a bend in the middle. “What’s happening is that when you’re walking, the muscles are firing longer and harder through the gait cycle, so the muscle is constantly contracting, causing your toes to pull up into a hammer-like position,” says Brenner. That causes one part of the bone to stick out above the others, and when it starts to run, causing friction, it can lead to a corn, or a more painful, smaller callous.
“If you don’t treat it properly with medicine, it can ulcerate and open up,” she says. If that happens, you should see a doctor ASAP; for more serious cases of hammertoe, a doctor may recommend surgery to address the cause.
5 RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disorder, and it can affect you all over—right down to your feet. “A side effect of rheumatoid arthritis is that your bones start to deviate, so they’re not sitting straight, they’re starting to angulate,” says Brenner. Your toe joints will feel tender or swollen and stiff, and you can actually develop rheumatoid nodules, “which are growths that occur on the joint, like a ball coming out of the joint, and are very painful,” says Brenner.
If you suspect rheumatoid arthritis as the cause of your foot pain or if you have a family history of RA, you should go straight to a rheumatologist.
6 GOUT
Gout is another form of arthritis. “It could be hereditary, or that your kidneys aren’t functioning correctly and you don’t have a certain enzyme to break down the uric acids found in meats, heavy sauces, and seafoods,” says Brenner. “What happens is those urate crystals harden and go to the coldest part of the body—typically the big toe joint.” Your joint will look red, feel hot, and swell, and be super sensitive to touch.
Since those things can also be signs of an infection, you should see a doctor ASAP. A podiatrist can help with the flare-up in your foot, but seeing an internal medicine doctor could help get to the root of the problem.
7 TENDINITIS
Tendinitis, or inflammation or irritation of a tendon, typically comes down to wear and tear, says Brenner. “It really comes from lack of support and doing exercise on hard surfaces,” she says. “You can get it from yoga, running, pretty much anything.” Tendinitis typically feels like a dull ache, and comes with mild swelling, most often immediately after the offending activity,
The best ways to get rid of it are rest and physical therapy, says Brenner, but for persistent pain lasting more than a few days, head to your doctor for more options.
8 A STRAIN OR SPRAIN
When you’re active, it’s easy to write off a rolled ankle or other minor injuries. But those could actually be strains or sprains, which occur when you overstretch the ligaments or muscles and tendons, respectively, and you need time to recover from them. “When you stretch ligaments or tendons, it’s like stretching leather—they don’t just snap back like a rubber band; it takes them a long time,” Brenner says.
The best cure? “Good old R.I.C.E.: rest, ice, compression, and elevation,” she says. “You should start to feel better within a week or so.” Then you need to rebuild the strength of those tendons, muscles, and ligaments—physical therapy can be helpful here, but just take your time and ease back into your routine. “If you can’t push through something or your body won’t let you do something, you need to listen to your body,” she says.
