Swollen Sole of Foot

[Pinky__0]

  Dear Sir: I am acquainted with a young man who has no insurance or money to go to a doctor. Yesterday he told me that for the past year he has had pain on the bottom of his foot on the sole near the toes. He said recently when he wakes up that the upper sole of his left foot in swollen a great deal and painful to walk on. He limps around and eventually the swelling goes down and he can walk. He works at a job where he stands continually. I offered to pay for his
  treatment and doctor visit however he is ashamed to take help from me but I feel he has something serious and would like an opinon on what may be the problem so I can talk to him and get him to see a doctor. Any infomation or educated guess would be appreciated so I can help this young man. He is thirty years old and appears in good health other than this foot problem. Thank you so much for helping me to help him.
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I think that it is highly unlikely that thee is any neurological basis
for these symptoms, it is more likely to have an orthopedic cause than
be due to any primary involvement of nerves.
My suggestion would be that this man should go to an emergency room when
his symptoms are at their worst, they will be obliged to examine him and
probably to do some basic investigations like an X ray which would at
least be a starting point in terms of getting a diagnosis.