Do your feet hurt wearing high heels?

Whether you are getting dressed up for a night on the town or wear them for work, high heels can cause some women pain while wearing them.  If you do have recurring pain, you might have metatarsalgia.

Metatarsalgia is a general term used to indicate a painful foot condition in the metatarsal region of the foot.  The metatarsal region is the area just before the toes, usually referred as the ball-of-the-foot.  This is a common foot disorder that affects the bones and joints at the ball-of-the-foot.  Metatarsalgia is often located under the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsal heads and more isolated at the first metatarsal head.

What Causes Metatarsalgia?

One or more of the metatarsal heads become painful and/or inflamed due to excessive pressure over a long period of time.  It is most common to experience acute, recurrent or chronic pain with metatarsalgia.  Ball-of-foot pain is most often caused from improper fitting footwear, most frequently women's dress shoes and other restrictive footwear.  Footwear with a narrow toe area forces the ball-of-foot area to be forced into a small amount of space.  This can inhibit the walking process and lead to extreme discomfort in the forefoot.

Some other factors can result in metatarsalgia by causing excessive pressure in the ball-of-foot area.  These are wearing shoes with heels that are too high or participating in high impact activities without the proper footwear or orthotics.  As we get older, the fat pad in our feet also thins out, making us much more susceptible to pain in the ball-of-foot area.

In order to treat Metatarsalgia, you first need to determine what is causing the pain.  If improper fitting footwear is the cause, you must change the type of footwear you are wearing.   Footwear designed with a high, wide toe area and a rocker sole is ideal for treating metatarsalgia.  The high, wide toe area allows the foot to spread out while the rocker sole reduces the stress on the ball-of-foot.

Reducing the pressure on the ball-of-the-foot can be accomplished with a variety of footcare products.  Orthotics designed to relieve ball-of-foot pain by featuring a metatarsal pad.  The orthotic is constructed with the pad placed behind the ball-of-the-foot to relieve pressure and redistribute weight from the painful area to more tolerable one.  Some other products that are recommended are gel metatarsal cushions as well as metatarsal bandages.  When these products are used with the proper footwear, you should notice significant relief.

If your problem persists, please call Dr. Vail at 419-423-1888 to schedule an appointment.  Also visit our website at www.vailfoot.com to check out more products to help with your ball-of-the-foot pain.