Burning Pain Tops of Feet

[SunsetRunner]

I have burning pain in the tops of my feet just underneath the toes and on one foot some tightness pain on the underside in the same area. The pain is more toward the pinky toe side. I don't actually see any swelling and the area is not hot. Anyone else ever experience this? I have experienced this in the past but after a much more vigorous cardio routine then I am doing now and found I really had to rest my feet for quite a long time. At the time I thought maybe I fractured something or bruised the bones because it was months of pain. That was years ago and no problems until now.

I never wear tight shoes and have invested in good shoes. I never wear dress shoes. I am thinking of getting some inserts to help with arch support.

I don't run but I do, do high impact cardio usually about twice a week. I don't wear shoes when I do cardio I know, I know terrible. I do have a shock absorbing surface and using this surface has really helped my knees a lot, unfortunately I can't wear shoes on it. 

I am thinking of doing no cardio next week to rest it and trying some ice but I feel that sadly I might have to look into alternatives for high impact cardio at least part of the time. Any suggestions? I don't have access to a pool sadly because I would love to swim. Cycling messes up my knees worse than jumping and I don't have access to an Elliptical and so I am really looking for less obvious possibilities for cardio.

[essieL]

Sorry you are hurting. 

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks they feel a bit better this morning but I know from experience that I need to rest for a while. Last time I made the mistake of pushing through the pain and it just got worse. So this time I am going to rest and do workouts that give my feet a break. Cardio is tricky though!

[Esya]

My suggestion is to talk to a doctor to see if they know what it is? Then you can get information that might help your situation.

[WavyDavey]

That's good advice from @Esya. 

@SunsetRunner, do a Google search for "seated cardio" or "seated workouts". There are lots of workouts possible, hopefully you can find something that works for you. 

[SunsetRunner]

Last time it happened I pushed myself, kept training like normal until I ended up making it much worse and couldn't train let alone walk properly.

This time I am going to take it easy. I read online that you should ice or heat the tops of the feet for 20 minutes. I am not going to worry about my steps at all and avoid standing for long periods (hopefully I can get away with that at work). I am switching my cardio days to low impact but if that is still too much (and it wasn't today) I will switch for a workout I can do without being on my feet at all like Pilates or as WaveyDavey suggested seated cardio. I am also doing foot/calve massage (so I don't think it is bruised bones this time) and drinking turmeric tea. Then it said if the pain persists for a full week I should call my doctor and have a look. I hope it won't come to that because I am not fond of going to the doctor. I can say my feet feel better today than they did yesterday. Fingers-crossed with some TLC I can keep this from escalating. Right now my biggest problem seems to be changing the way I sit because I usually sit cross-legged and that's not so good! I wonder if it's not a nerve thing I am prone to pinched nerves and I have hypomobile joints (not all of them but my spine, neck, shoulders, and ankle are hypomobile) so like my ankles don't have enough flexibility and that could be messing me up.

[Corney]

Generally speaking burning type pain is usually related to nerve problems.  Try squeezing your toes together at their base, if this reproduces the symptoms you have in inflamed inter-digital nerve, sometimes called a Mortons Neuroma, but it is usually related to the second or third toe. 

[SunsetRunner]

Anything I can do to relieve it?

[Corney]

1. Bend your toes back and press on the bottom of your foot until you find
the most painful spot and use ice. Get a bag of ice place it in a basin
and place your foot on the bag for 10 minutes, take it off for 10 minutes,
then repeat the process 3-4 times.
2. Once you have found the painful spot, take the pressure of it using 1/4
padding placed right behind the spot, use surgical felt, or buy a
metatarsal pad. use the padding and keep up the ice treatment 3-4 weeks.
3. Make sure your shoes are wide enough, the tighter your shoes the more
pressure on those nerves.
4. If you wear heels at work or play go to a lower type heel to take
pressure off those nerves.

If none of these work an injection of steroids, or Vitamin B12 and
Xylocaine or Novocaine. The last resort is surgical removal of the
neuroma. Good luck!

[TheShortShort]

Sadly I've had similar pains. Be careful with wearing any shoes with laces. I've been trying to do slight stretches with my feet not to over stretch them but to ease the muscle. I've been focusing on a lot of work outs that are upper body. (Knee Push ups and Weights) I would recommend keep the foot elevated and heat has helped me more than ice.