If you have experienced pain in the arches of your feet, you likely know how frustrating it can be when every single step you take hurts. Eliminating that pain may not always be an easy endeavor, there can be many factors to consider. Here are some of the common injuries and irritations that may often lead to painful arches as well as a few things that you might try to get a little relief.
Causes and Symptoms
When you consider all of the different bones, tendons, and other tissues that make up each of your feet, the cause of your foot pain may be difficult for you and your doctor to nail down. More often than not, the type of pain you are having along with the location that pain can be a pretty good identifier for finding the cause.
One obvious cause of foot pain is severe impact on your foot. Things such as dropping something with substantial weight on either of your feet or even having someone step on your foot could be enough to cause an injury.
This may often be referred to as an acute injury and can be one of the easier causes of your arch pain to identify, especially if you have recently been in an accident. The pain usually begins relatively quickly after the incident and often feels like a sharp pain in the area of the blow or possible a shooting pain throughout the foot that was hit.
Another condition that can often make running or even walking uncomfortable or painful is fallen arches. If you have this condition, also often called flat feet, then you may find that your feet become tired or fatigued very quickly. You can be born with this condition or it can develop as the result of other conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and in some cases from inflammation.
If you have fallen arches you may have a noticeably visible deformity in one or both of your feet which may cause it to appear that your arches have just flattened out. This usually happens when the tendons within your arches lose their elasticity, or their ability to stretch and contract. When the tendons that support your arches weaken, they are less and less able to absorb the shock of walking and running.
Another common cause of arch pain is a condition that can become extremely painful over time known as plantar fasciitis. This could usually be the result of overusing the ligament that attaches your toes to your heel bone.
When the tissues that run along the sole of each of your feet are repeatedly stretched or torn over and over, they can become swollen and cause you intense pain, typically in the bottom of your feet and heels. One sign that you may have this injury is foot pain first thing in the morning.
Finding Relief
If you are living with any of these injuries or conditions, your first objective is most likely to find a reliable way to reduce the pain in your arches as quickly as possible, as well as keep it from getting worse.
There are a few tools that may help you reach this goal including foot rockers and stretchers. These devices can help reduce the amount of pain you feel and support recovery of any damaged tissue. Orthotic aids like arch supports and cushioned insoles may also help relieve pain when you have to be on your feet all day
Stretching and strengthening feet at home with simple exercises can also help make foot tissues stronger and more pliable. Yoga can be an effective practice, as can simply rolling your injured foot over an ice pack or frozen water bottle. Remember though, as with any injury you should always seek medical advice and give your body time to heal.
