Ball of Foot Pain

Metatarsalgia is an umbrella term that refers to pain in the forefoot. Pain can present in, around and under the balls of the feet, at times spreading through to the toes.

Metatarsalgia is a non-specific term and can imply pain caused by many different pathologies such as morton’s neuroma, stress fractures, damaged ligaments and poor biomechanics involving the big toe. 

At Wollongong Podiatry, we tear up the broad term “metatarsalgia'' and  identify the true cause and diagnosis of your forefoot pain. From here we can guide you through an appropriate treatment plan to get your feet feeling better again.

Although there are a range of different reasons that pain presents in your forefoot, one cause we commonly see involves the big toe (and big knuckle joint). The big toe plays a very important role when walking and, if it is not functioning properly, will shift load onto the much smaller knuckle joints in the middle of the ball of your foot. 

We use force platform pressure mapping to assess big toe function when you are walking, and can also do this inside your shoes for walking or running (with a one of a kind in-shoe pressure system not used in any other clinic in Australia). The good news in respect to poor big toe function is it can almost always be retrained to work better. The exception here is if there is severe arthritis preventing the big toe from bending at all.

Footwear assessment is another important factor to take into consideration when assessing forefoot pain. Tight, narrow, squishy toed shoes (including expensive walking and running shoes) can play a large role in nerve irritation as well as changing the alignment of the knuckle joints in the balls of your feet. Put simply…

Joints work best when they are free to move, twist and bend as they were designed to! 

At Wollongong Podiatry, your podiatrist will work with you and your feet to determine the cause of your forefoot pain, and design a treatment plan that will get you moving forward.