r/RunningInjuries

Been jogging for about two months now and I constantly get this muscle pain specifically in my right foot. It’s mainly located right behind my ankle bone and goes into the arch of my foot. I’ve read and saw it’s PTT and wanted to know if anyone’s had experience with this. I’ve done 2-3 week rests and it still seems to creep back. I’ve been wearing those REI running insoles in hopes to correct it but hasn’t been much help. Am I just over working? Again no pain at all in my left foot only right, thinking it’s maybe a form issue who knows. Any advice would be appreciated!

I’m currently taking a couple weeks off from running and exercise in general due to some family/school stuff. However, a couple days ago, I just woke up with a lot of pain in my foot and the location points to extensor tendinitis. The pain is along the top of my foot and it hurts when I tense the muscles in that area (for instance, pressing my toes against the bottom of my shoes). However, that’s an overuse injury, and this spot has never hurt before, and I hadn’t ran for about a week at the point it started hurting. It‘s like an overuse injury… without the overuse. Has this happened to anybody else?

Hi everyone,

I’ve posted about this before but wanted to post again because I’m still dealing with the same issue.

I’m a 25-year-old male (5’6”, 150 lbs) dealing with chronic foot pain that started after stress fractures in my 4th and 5th metatarsals back in high school around December 2018.

When the injury first happened, I was put in a walking boot, used crutches, and also used an EXOGEN bone stimulator for about 180 days. The injury improved over time, but the pain in that lateral area of my foot never fully went away.

Over the last 7 years I’ve had multiple X-rays, multiple MRIs, a CT scan, and an EMG. Even this year alone I’ve had an MRI to check again and the EMG was also just over a month ago. According to the results of all my tests over the years, everything has come back normal structurally. There’s no clear fracture, tendon inflammation, or nerve issues.

What’s confusing is that I’ve still been able to run at times. There were periods where I could run 15–25 mpw and occasionally even do 10+ mile runs. In fact one week a few years ago in my junior year of college I was able to run 60 miles. But regardless of all of that I’ve never been able to run consistently without the pain eventually flaring back up.

In fact, lately things seem worse. Now even shorter runs can irritate it. Recently I’ve been experimenting with very short “test runs” (12–15 minutes / 1.5–2 miles) because I’m wondering if this has become more of a load tolerance issue than an active structural injury.

The weird thing is during the run I usually feel mostly okay and immediately after I’m often okay too. But then the NEXT day my foot will feel irritated again. And I’ve also been dealing with my shin pain too now. Idk if it’s related but often times when I get foot pain I might also have some shin pain

This year alone I’ve tried physical therapy which sought to improve my ankle dorsiflexion (which did improve my ankle mobility but not the pain in the lateral side of my foot), steroid injection, rest/icing. strengthening work (stuff like calf and seated calf raises, tibialis raises, seiza position stretch, peroneal band work, etc.)

None of it has fully solved the issue. My most recent doctor was so confused by my issue that he basically told me he doesn’t know how to help me considering that therapy didn’t help, the steroid shot didn’t help, my symptoms are inconsistent, and all my imaging/test results look normal. He couldn’t recommend surgery because he didn’t know what there was to operate on.

At this point I’m wondering if I’ve gotten stuck in a cycle of

- running too much

- flaring my pain up

- resting

- and repeating that cycle

instead of gradually rebuilding running tolerance consistently (which is why I’ve been doing my test runs lately). Meanwhile, I have almost no issues with going for long walks or being on the StairMaster for a while.

Has anyone dealt with something similar where imaging was normal, symptoms were chronic/inconsistent, but running impact specifically kept triggering things?

Especially curious if anyone successfully rebuilt tolerance after years of this. If anybody could give me some advice on this I would more than love to hear it.

Thanks.

so i’m going on 11-12 weeks after having my initial stress reaction pain. Stopped running immediately but took a few weeks to get mri/boot. I was in the boot for 6 weeks with pretty slow progress but finally was pain free the last week of being in it. i’ve been out of the boot for about 2-3 weeks now and the “dull ache” has returned. same spot, same quality as it had been this whole journey. no return of sharp pain though so that’s good. my ortho said as long as it remains dull, i don’t need repeat imaging.

What i’m struggling with is i’ve had a stress fracture/reaction before and had no residual pain. phantom pains and tendons being messed up, yes. but not the same quality as the stress fracture pain.

i’m going to get a second opinion, so NOT looking for medical advice, more just peoples experiences. This area of stress reaction is higher risk, so i’m worried it’s not healing properly. I have no intention of getting back into running anytime soon. I literally just want to be able to walk, cycle, eliptical. I’ve been swimming which is great but want to do a bit more especially now that the weather is nice.

TLDR: tibial stress reaction with residual aching pain after 12 weeks. looking for personal experiences. getting a second opinion for repeat imaging

Hey, I have been struggling with a stinging pain in the back of both knees for quite a few months now and it keeps getting worse so thought I’d try for some advice from others.

For some background, my work involves visiting and walking around brownfield/agricultural sites 2-3 times a week and means I have to do about 10-15k steps on these days. Sitting breaks do provide temporary relief whilst walking. I bring this up as I think this is consistently aggravating both knees and not giving them appropriate time to recover. I have now asked work if I can reduce these visits to bigger sites so I don’t have to walk as much. Pain has generally come after larger physical demands of it but starts hurting during standing and walking on site visits now.

The first discomfort I felt in the back of my left knee came after a 15-mile run in September 2025. Was running about 25 miles a week on average over this time. This was very minor and not something I would even class as a pain, just a tweak I felt after finishing the run. This hung around in the background but wasn’t something major as I only felt it during runs and it still allowed me to run two half marathons in early October and then early November. I noticed in between these runs, doing hamstring curls on the machine in the gym started to hurt this area on the weight id usually do and so I stopped doing this exercise.

After the second half I was struggling with this back of the knee pain in both legs now (right behind and inside of knees), but it only occurred during running. One night in late November I went on a very light run which was limited significantly by this pain, and then I played an hour of football later that night. I felt ok after on the night but the morning after was a bigger pain in the back of both knees and really limited my movement (7/10 pain).
I stopped running for about 3-4 weeks to let it rest and then went back to running over Christmas. I did a few short runs but felt it behind my knees every time and then the day after a 5-mile run in early January the same major knee pain was back which stopped me running again. After this, I stopped running again and started to do some hamstring stretches given to me from a GP phone call appointment I got through work, but this only seemed to make things worse and resulted in pain afterwards for a day or two. I went on a very light, short run at the end of January and I felt discomfort, which then turned to pain later in the day whilst walking.

I returned to doing leg exercises at home after seeing an NHS physio in March and followed their plan for a month but increasingly continued to experience pain after demanding less and less of my legs. I saw a private physio at the end of April who diagnosed this issue as distal hamstring tendinosis and scaled my exercises way back to just doing static holds of two exercises once a day. I did this for a week until he moved me onto the same exercises but with the hamstring in a more stretched position but this seemed to cause more pain and so I have returned to the original exercises ever since.

Ice did seem to reduce pain so I did this every day after my NHS appointment, but private physio said not to do this as it’s a tendon issue and he wants me to keep it loose. Have been adding heat to it everyday since. I have received acupuncture and soft tissue massage to both legs once a week for two weeks, but these just seem to make my legs feel very vulnerable and a bit achy immediately and a few days after.
Legs still have full range of motion and have not been buckling at all.

The pain threshold in the back of my legs has reduced steadily since January to the point now where I can walk/stand for about 10 mins until I am in pain and have to push through it. Following aggravating it, it remains in pain the next day. As I have read more about this, I believe this is now at the chronic stage.

I can give more information if needed. Feel very stuck right now and knees are getting worse so any advice would be appreciated. Cheers

I had severe pain that left me unable to even run for a minute. But if it’s been a couple days since attempting to run, I have no pain at all while walking. So why do I need to be not weight bearing on crutches for a few weeks when walking doesn’t hurt?

Looking for people’s experiences with running long-term. I made a post a few weeks ago on r/sesamoid about running with sesamoiditis, and the responses weren’t exactly encouraging! Has this been a “career-ending” injury for anyone or is recovery possible? I would appreciate any input.

So I'm currently training for a 90 mintute half marathon. My PB from last month was 1:31:40, so Im close.

The only problem I have is how sore my legs have been getting recently. I thought the shin splints were from the sudden increase of intensity but, now, having seen photos from my last run, I noticed how close my knees are and so I started researching.

I have had run analysis done by a local run shop where they told me that I over pronate. I purchased New Balance Fresh Foam 860v14 on their recommendation for support.

I also have collapsed arches.

I suspect my pain is from my over pronation and my questions are:

Is there shoes that offer more support?

Is it worth trying insoles?

Is there anything else I can do?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been running consistently for a long time and wanted to hear what experienced runners do to stay injury-free over the years, especially when running mostly on paved surfaces.

A few things I’m curious about:

• What habits have helped you avoid recurring aches/pains from higher mileage?
• How important have strength training and mobility work been for you?
• Do you do anything specific for knee/joint longevity?
• Any recovery practices that made a noticeable difference?
• Are there any supplements that runners actually find useful for joint health?

For context:

• I run mostly on roads/paved surfaces.
• I currently use ASICS Cumulus shoes.
• Running on grass/trails regularly isn’t really an option for me.

Just looking to learn what’s worked well for others in terms of staying durable and running comfortably long term.

Guys, I have a question. I’m dealing with my second tibial stress fracture in less than a year… mainly because of overtraining, and I also believe I may have some nutritional deficiencies (my strength training is fine). I’m going to an orthopedic doctor to get a full check-up and everything.

But here’s the thing: I absolutely love running. It’s the only sport I truly enjoy and practice with real passion. When this kind of injury happens, I feel completely lost and unmotivated to do absolutely anything. It sucks. And it always happens when I’m at my peak, well-trained and in great shape. Then suddenly everything falls apart.

When this happens, I switch to cycling (like now) and sometimes swimming. But honestly, I do it kind of out of frustration, you know? What do you guys do to cope with it? I completely lose my motivation and just keep thinking about the day I’ll finally be able to run again (probably in about a month).

I have been running for 5 years now making up 10 total seasons of xc and track. I first got shin splints in my freshman year (2 years ago) I think towards the end of xc season. Then I think I got them again sometime last year, maybe at the end of the track season. This year they sprang up once again I think halfway through my track season and they are by far the worst they have ever felt to the point where I’m worried they might be stress fractures. Every run I do is at least 50% on grass and every time I’ve gotten shin splints I’ve taken multi week long breaks but they just keep coming back. I’ve spoken to numerous people and as far as I’m aware I have perfect form with no pronation or anything. The only reason me and my friend have come up with is that I may not be getting enough food because of an adhd medication I take that also acts as an appetite depressant. If anyone has any possible causes I would be incredibly grateful and I am just as much in need of solutions.

if this is not the right place to post this please direct me to somewhere more suitable
btw I wear the novablasts

I’m not sure if this is directly related to my hyper mobility, but one of my drs thinks hypermobility may be the underlying cause of some of my issues.

I was a runner up until about a year ago when i started having pain in my Right knee while running. I stopped running and tried intermittently throughout the summer with no luck and haven’t ran since about September. I went to pt, orthopedic docs, a neurologist (for subsequent pain in my back), and a podiatrist (because i started walking on the side of my foot). In January the orthopedic doc diagnosed me with patellar tendinopathy in my Right knee. I got a PRP injection in the tendon in March. Around this time i started having pain in my Left knee - they did an MRI and said there were no significant findings. However, in the past three months the pain in both knees has gotten exponentially worse - often occurring in various parts of my knees, my hamstrings, and my shins at various times and to varying degrees. I’m not really sure why as I do my best to manage it (ice, rest, still moving a bit, elevating my legs when i’m sitting, etc). I don’t believe it’s just patellar tendinopathy as it’s not localized pain and often other areas of my legs are hurting, not just that tendon.

I’m wondering if people have found anything that helps with chronic knee pain? Especially when the pain diffuses throughout the leg. Treatments, types of doctors to go to, ways to advocate for yourself, etc. Ive been considering trying swimming. Sorry this was long! Thanks for taking the time to read this!