ocassional pain on top of foot

Sometimes I am walking along and there is a shooting pain across the top of my foot. It will appear then disappear. It causes me to stop walking or limp.   I can't find anything that causes i but it seems to happen most often when I wear my dress shoes or when I am barefoot.  I sometimes feel it when I am in my running shoes, but not as often.  It seems to radiate from my ankle to my toes.  
Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

[Yena H Do, DPM]

you may have neuritis to the dorsal nerves of the foot.  make sure that there are no straps or increased pressure to the top of the foot when wearing shoes.  icing the area and taking 600 mg ibuprofen every 6 hours can help.  if the pain continues, have the area examined.  it may need a cortisone injection.
also, get an xray to rule out stress fractures.