Definition
Your foot is an intricate network of bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles. Strong enough to bear your body weight, your foot can be prone to injury and pain.
Foot pain can affect any part of your foot, from your toes to your Achilles tendon at the back of your heel.
Although mild foot pain often responds well to home treatments, it can take time to resolve. Your doctor should evaluate severe foot pain, especially if it follows an injury.
Causes
Injury, overuse or conditions causing inflammation involving any of the bones, ligaments or tendons in the foot can cause foot pain. Arthritis is a common cause of foot pain. Injury to the nerves of the feet may result in intense burning pain, numbness or tingling (peripheral neuropathy).
Some common causes of foot pain include:
- Achilles tendinitis
- Achilles tendon rupture
- Avulsion fracture: How is it treated?
- Bone spurs
- Broken ankle/broken foot
- Broken toe
- Bunions
- Bursitis
- Corns and calluses
- Diabetic neuropathy
- Flatfeet
- Gout
- Haglund’s deformity
- Hammertoe and mallet toe
- High heels or poorly fitting shoes
- Ingrown toenails
- Metatarsalgia
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteomyelitis
- Paget’s disease of bone
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Plantar fasciitis
- Plantar warts
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Raynaud’s disease
- Reactive arthritis
- Retrocalcaneal bursitis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Septic arthritis
- Stress fractures
- Tarsal tunnel syndrome
- Tendinitis
- Tumors
