Excruciating Toe Pain

[msracewalker]

I wasn't sure what topic to put this under, but this is my problem.  I am a racewalker and have always had some pain in my toes.  I found if I taped the two toes next to the small toe that would work.  In fact it worked for 3 years.  In the last few months, the pain has increased intensely.  I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to see what could be the problem.  I had self-diagnosed myself with Morton's Neuroma.  He never suggested that it was Morton's.  I told him that I taped my toes and he suggested I keep doing that and gave me a cortisone shot in the joint of one of my toes.  That was absolutely no help and a waste of money.

I have tried metatarsal pads and toe wraps, but nothing recently has helped.  One odd thing is that somedays the toes do not hurt at all or they will shift from toes on the left foot to the right foot, though the right foot is the most affected foothe pain starts in the toe and seems to run into my foot. (Nerve?)  I am at my wits end.  I love racewalking and I was walking 5 to 6 miles a day and racing a 5K on Saturdays.  I am unable to walk that far on most days now.  The pain is just too excruciating.  Sometimes if I have a ways to walk to get back to where I started when the pain gets too bad, I can bend the toes of that foot under in my shoe and it will feel better for awhile if I walk like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tanglewood]

I'm sorry you are having problems and are not able to do what you enjoy - I can relate. I'm not a doctor I just have a lot of issues with pain and thinking that maybe the pain is not coming from your toes, but your low back? A MRI would show if you have a disc issue in your low back. I don't know what else to try, sorry. Good luck, I hope you get it figured out and are able to continue racing.

[jason80]

I have similar story with my toes and tried similar things as you have. Usually the pain I experience is when I first get out of bed touching the ground and then tends to go away. But the pain has been off and on for years.

Foot doctor said it was probably pinched nerve between my small toes. I think this is like/same as Neuroma. This is not so uncommon according to doctor. The hiking I used to do aggravated it.  He also gave me cortisone shot and it did absolutely nothing.

I quit hiking and began wearing more comfortable shoes has helped somewhat, but the pain still waxes and wanes.  The foot doctor said their are surgical options if it gets bad enough, but also said that the likelihood of success was not that high. I've just been enduring it.