r/FootFunction

I’m a 24 y/o male, 70kg, student in Germany. Looking for advice from people who’ve actually been through this.

The pain:

•	Both feet hurt — never just one  
•	Starts in the heel, then spreads to the side of the arch, then to the forefeet   
•	Only happens when I’m standing or walking. Sitting fixes it. Elevating my feet fixes it faster.  
•	No pain at all when I wake up, no pain after sitting, no sharp/stabbing pain  
•	It builds gradually — sometimes pain starts after 5 minutes of standing, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes I’m fine for hours  
•	Pressing on my feet anywhere doesn’t hurt. No tender spots, no swelling, no redness, no tingling, no numbness  
•	When I am barefoot, only the heel hurts like due to pressure kind of pain, but when in shoes, entire foot hurts (both)

What I’ve ruled out: It’s not classic plantar fasciitis (no morning pain, no point tenderness). My back has disc bulges but the foot pain doesn’t track with my sciatica. Bloodwork is mostly normal except vitamin D was low (I’m 4 weeks into 60,000 IU/week loading dose).

My foot details:

•	Length 263mm, width 111mm (so I’m a wide foot — 2E width)  
•	Normal arches confirmed by wet print test  
•	I gained 10kg in 5 months last year (60→70kg). Pain started about 6 months after the weight gain.  
•	Sensitive to arch support — anything that pushes into my arch makes the pain worse and spread faster

What I’ve tried:

•	Brooks Ghost Max 2 in 2E width — the only shoe that doesn’t actively make things worse, but doesn’t fix it either  
•	Hoka Bondi 8 — arch contour causes immediate pain on the inside of my foot  
•	Sorbothane Full Strike insole — okay but feels like not enough heel cushioning  
•	Foot strengthening exercises (short foot, toe yoga, towel scrunches) — started recently  
•	Vitamin D supplementation — ongoing

What I’m asking:

Has anyone had this exact pattern — pain that travels heel → arch → forefoot only when walking in shoes, no morning pain, no tender spots, both feet equally? What ended up working for you?

Since I am not in a position to visit the doctor and appointment takes months and also there are no English speaker podiatrist doctors here, so trying to diagnose and manage on my own

Thank you for reading
Any advice would be really helpful,

Hey everyone,

I’m a 35F and looking to see if anyone has been through something similar with a tricky 5th metatarsal break.

Quick background: I broke my 5th metatarsal 2 years ago. My old doctor treated it conservatively (no surgery), and I was in a boot/resting and it took me about 3 months to be able to “walk” again. Around 4-6 to Walk somehow normal. Somewhat because it does never went to feel Like before. I can Walk but something feels off. I changed doctors back then to a better place and they we’re shocked the old doctor did not send me to surgery back then. But ok ir grew back together…

Fast forward to now (two years later): I am still dealing with a lot of issues.

Activity Pain: If I walk for too long, or do cardio workouts that involve twisting/spinning on my foot, it starts aching and I feel a click Sensation.

The Weirdest Symptom: In normal cushioned sneakers with my custom inlets/orthotics, it feels okay. But the second I go barefoot, I get a weird click-click feeling in that exact bone with every step which goes away after some hours.

I just saw my doctor and he is sending me for a new MRT (MRI) scan. He suspects it either healed badly (a non-union/pseudoarthrosis) and we might need surgery after all, OR that it has developed arthrosis (arthritis) in the joint.

Honestly, I’m so frustrated. I thought this was behind me two years ago and now I'm terrified of having to go under the knife, deal with crutches, or find out my joint is ruined.

Has anyone else had their 5th metatarsal clicking or hurting years after a "conservative heal"?

If your MRT showed a non-union years later, did you get the screw surgery? How was the recovery?

If it was arthrosis, did shots/injections or physical therapy help you avoid surgery?

I would love to hear any experiences, timelines, or positive outcomes. This is a massive mental battle right now.

Thank you!

So Ive been dealing with what Im assuming is metatarsalgia. Pain will randomly start up in the ball of my left foot, mostly under the second toe but it varies a bit cause it’s coming and going, but it’s extreme and has me limping when it does happen. I dealt with this once before when I was a bit younger, but it made sense then. I was serving part time and working full time in healthcare and I work out on a regular basis so I was on my feet all the time! Now I work a desk job, still go to the gym and I walk our dogs most days for about 45 mins. Last time I had a forced break cause of covid and I got some good shoes and insoles on board (Hokas) and it got better. This time around I still wear hokas with custom insoles when I’m walking the dogs and any other activities where extended walking is necessary. But I’m barely on my feet these days! Nothing compared to when it happened before, I work hybrid from home and even the 2 days a week I’m in office I wear a dr schols van type looking shoe. It pops up and goes away so randomly. So what do I do to help this? Any suggestions for treatment other than ice and good shoes? Any suggestions on a different sneaker maybe?

I had an appointment the other day at Rothman for an orthopedic foot ankle surgeon. I had a year ago a triple arthrodesis achilles tendon lengthening surgery. The reason why I made this appointment was under the recommendation of my physical therapist. When I walk I supinate and have a curled toes. The first leg of my appointment xrays were taken and met with a surgeon associate who was a complete a hole he tried to tell me my back caused my foot to supinate I do not have any issues with my spine. When I met with the actual surgeon he reviewed everything his associate told him and came up with me wearing a medial lateral heel wedge pad that was his solution. I could believe it. I will not return to my follow-up appointment.

I have had foot pain (mainly the left foot) for over 2 years now and the traditional methods of custom orthotics and PT didn’t help :( was diagnosed with flexible flat feet and posterior tibial tenosynovitis.

I really think my left foot is just super weak and cannot handle the current load.

how can I start strengthening my foot/being barefoot more often without causing eternal flare ups? I get stuck in the cycle of flare up > rest > start foot exercises > flare.

any advice?

I pronate super bad and have for a long time. I also have weak hips, deep core and low back, major disc degeneration etc, but I'm trying to strengthen them. Just a rant, I guess, but if anyone has any insight I'd love to hear it.

Right ankle: Small tear in a tendon just in front of the inner ankle bone. My podiatrist said it was "with the grain," taking a piece of gauze and separating the fibers out into kind of a purse-opening shape to demonstrate.

I wasn't necessarily surprised to hear that because there are times when I can't flex that ankle at all while walking, or it feels like bones chipping together and it takes my breath away. (Fun fact, that symptom developed in high school when I got a pair of house slippers that had a stiff high ankle, kind of like an Ugg boot, that didn't let me walk like a normal human.) When I asked her why it happened or how to keep it from getting worse, she said she didn't know. My pt said the same, and he was actually the best pt I've had so far. Whatever.

I also have a cyst on the right side of my foot, maybe an inch and a half down from my outer ankle bone. It's been scanned and it's perfectly ovular. It switches from being big and soft to being hard and crispy and, like...pokey feeling. Again, they say it's not really worth it to do anything. I have no clue.

Left ankle: I think I have another one of those cysts basically in the ankle joint, at the front. In the area of the inferior extensor retinaculum, according to a diagram I'm looking at. Can't see a lump or anything but it feels like there's something there. When it's acting up, which it is now, I can't stretch or strengthen my ankle. Can't do calf raises. Can't really go for my daily walk without making it worse. This flareup was caused by, you guessed it, doing foot and ankle pt.

I don't know what to do, you guys! A few years ago I healed my plantar fasciitis without even doing pt and I guess I got cocky. I'm at a complete loss now, especially since my docs haven't been particularly insightful. My feet are so ganked I can't even activate my arches without scrunching my toes. That's so far beyond me, I keep trying but I can't get my head around it. I just want to get stronger!

Hiiii,

we’re currently working on a student project where we’re developing a smart insole for gait analysis with integrated pressure sensors, and I’d really appreciate any advice because we’re basically building this from scratch without ANY prior hardware/software experience.

The general idea is:

- insole with around 6–8 pressure sensors
- collect pressure data in real time while walking
- transmit the data wirelessly (probably Bluetooth via something like ESP32?)
- visualize the pressure distribution as a real-time foot pressure heatmap
- detect gait phases / irregularities later on

I’m mainly responsible for the software side, so I’m currently trying to build the visualization in JavaFX. The plan right now is to create a foot-shaped heatmap by placing a foot mask (PNG), then interpolating between sparse sensor points (probably using Inverse Distance Weighting / IDW, maybe bilinear interpolation

But since we only have 6–8 sensors, I’m unsure what the most realistic / professional approach is.

A few questions:

1. Sensor choice
   What pressure sensors would you recommend for a smart insole prototype?
   practical for:
   - repeated load
   - decent accuracy
   - reasonable budget
   - real-time responsiveness

2. Sensor placement
   Biomechanically, where would you place them?

I think:
- heel
- medial forefoot / ball of foot
- lateral forefoot
- maybe arch?

But I’d love input from other people

Goal:
something visually similar to medical plantar pressure maps

3Calibration
How would you calibrate pressure sensors for something like this?

Things I’m wondering:
- normalize per sensor?
- user-specific calibration?
- thresholding?
- drift compensation?

4. Gait analysis
   Once the pressure stream works, how would you approach gait detection?

For example:
- heel strike
- mid stance
- toe-off
- step count
- cadence
- asymmetry
- abnormal loading

5. General “things beginners underestimate”
   This is probably our biggest issue 😅

We don’t have any prior lecture knowledge in embedded systems / biomechanics / signal processing, and we’re teaching ourselves while building this.

So honestly any advice helps:
hardware, software architecture, sensors, BLE, signal filtering, visualization, calibration, gait logic blbla literally anything that would make this easier. also if you know where i can find similar projects lmk pls
Thanks a lot for reading allat :)

Not sure where else to ask this but about 2 weeks ago I badly sprained my ankle doing something pretty mundane. I kind of naturally have loose joints (my shoulders sublux constantly) and my ankles naturally have the tendon roll over more than most people. When I twisted my ankle, I instantly heard a pop and could not bear wear without my peroneal tendons rolling over my ankle bone and getting stuck (subluxing) and my ankle was very unstable. The pain stopped after about 2 days. The instability and subluxation continued (couldn’t walk even in CAM boot) for about a week and now my ankle just feels tight, no longer unstable, and I can finally bear weight and walk a little (2 weeks in). I haven’t experienced subluxation in about 5 days (albeit I only really started walking today). I went to an orthopedic surgeon that said I will need a pretty invasive surgery to get my peroneal retinaculum repaired and booked me for surgery the following week, however, I haven’t experienced the subluxing in a few days. I have an MRI a few days before my surgery so I’m not sure if the retinaculum is torn. Basically I want to hear if anyone has had a similar experience and recovered without surgery or if others have gotten the surgery and their experience. Thank you in advance!!

For example big toe extension (hallux limitus) and other conditions. Is it due to modern way of life where we sit alot, wear restrictive shoes, etc?

Hey everyone — looking for advice from fellow flat feet sufferers. Here's my situation:

A few weeks ago I woke up with a swollen, stiff big toe joint out of nowhere — no injury, no trauma. It turned out I'm a stomach sleeper with heavy blankets and my toe was likely being bent backwards overnight for hours while I slept. It kept flaring up repeatedly over several weeks, responding to Naproxen and rest each time but coming back whenever I returned to normal activity. It has since resolved but the pattern concerns me.

I'm now seeing a podiatrist soon to get to the root of it.

My questions:

1. Has anyone with flat feet had recurring pain or stiffness at the big toe joint, specifically when bending the toe upward? Was it diagnosed as anything specific?

2. Did custom orthotics make a real difference for you? How long before you felt improvement?

3. What shoes have worked best for flat feet and overpronation? I'm currently looking at New Balance 1540, Brooks Beast, Skechers Arch Fit, and Hoka Arahi.

4. Best supportive house shoes? After a long day in slides, the ball of my other foot — the one that wasn't originally inflamed — became sore, worn, and achy by the end of the day. Are Vionic slippers or Oofos worth it, and are slides ever okay even in moderation with flat feet?

Thanks in advance!

Did a serious reset on my foot care routine this year and tested a lot of things. Here's where I landed on socks specifically since it's the thing I get asked about most.

Dropped: Bombas (the feel is great but the band marks were consistent and I couldn't ignore it anymore), generic amazon diabetic multipacks (inconsistent sizing batch to batch, one pair caused irritation I didn't catch in time).

Still use occasionally: Thorlos for days when I'm doing a lot of walking and need the cushioning. The top runs tighter than I want but for specific use it's the best cushioning I've found.

Daily rotation: diabetic sock club. Non-binding top is the real difference, made in the USA which shows in the consistency, and the 6-pair pack makes it easy to keep a full rotation going without thinking about it.

The thing that changed my approach was treating sock choice as a medical decision the same way I treat footwear choice. Once I did that the criteria got clearer and the right options were more obvious.