Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
Steady, Confident, and Back in Control
Foot and ankle pain can make even simple things, like walking to the mailbox or standing at work, feel exhausting. With 50+ locations across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan, we’re proud to help people across the Midwest feel steady, confident, and back in control.
What Is Foot and Ankle Pain?
Foot and ankle pain is one of the most common physical complaints, affecting people of all ages and lifestyles. It can show up anywhere in the foot or ankle, including the heel, arch, forefoot, toes, or the joint where your foot connects to your leg, and is usually a symptom of an injury or an underlying health condition.
What Are the Symptoms of Foot and Ankle Pain?
Foot and ankle pain often comes with more going on than it seems. Weakness or dysfunction in the hip or knee can also play a role, so we take a careful look at your whole leg, not just where it hurts. Symptoms can include:
- ✓Swelling
- ✓Redness
- ✓Numbness or tingling
- ✓Sharp or burning sensations
- ✓Difficulty bearing weight
- ✓Pain that worsens with activity or after rest
- ✓Discomfort on the inside or outside of the ankle
- ✓Pain on the bottom of the foot or heel
- ✓Shin pain
If your pain lasts more than a few days, or it’s sudden and severe, it’s a good idea to have it evaluated.
What Causes Foot Pain?
Plantar Fasciitis
One of the leading causes of heel pain, plantar fasciitis happens when the thick band of tissue connecting the heel to the toes becomes inflamed.
Flat Feet or High Arches
These put added stress on the muscles and ligaments in the feet and can lead to pain, fatigue, or injury over time. The foot has three arches: one on the inside, one on the outside, and one across the forefoot.
Bunions and Hammertoes
Deformities that develop over time, often from ill-fitting shoes or genetics, causing pain, swelling, and difficulty walking. Often related to a fallen forefoot arch, they may be treated with a metatarsal arch pad, sometimes alongside treatment for forefoot pain.
Stress Fractures
Common in the metatarsal bones of the feet, most often on the outside of the foot.
What Causes Ankle Pain?
Sprains
An inversion sprain happens when the foot rolls inward, spraining the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. An eversion sprain happens when the foot and ankle roll outward, spraining the ligaments on the inside — this type can sometimes come with a fracture, and an MRI may be needed to tell a ligament tear from a sprain. Sprains are especially common among athletes and active individuals.
Fractures
Fractures can follow an injury or develop gradually as a stress fracture. They’re common among athletes and active individuals, and should be ruled out with an X-ray if there’s pain over a bony area.
Tendonitis
Achilles tendonitis causes pain just above the heel in the back of the ankle, often worse when going up on your toes. Peroneal tendonitis causes pain on the outside of the foot or ankle when moving it outward, and posterior tibialis tendonitis causes pain on the inside when moving it inward.
Shin Splints
Also known as medial tibial stress syndrome, shin splints cause pain along the inside of the shin bone. They’re common among runners and often connected to footwear and training patterns.
Causes That Can Affect Both the Foot and Ankle
Arthritis
Arthritis can affect the joints in the feet and ankles and cause stiffness, swelling, and chronic pain, often in the forefoot. It’s typically treated with arch supports and exercise, though in severe cases a total ankle replacement may be needed.
Nerve-Related Conditions
These include diabetic neuropathy (tingling, burning, or shooting pain often linked to diabetes), tarsal tunnel syndrome (similar to carpal tunnel, affecting the inside of the ankle), and Morton’s neuroma (a thickened, irritated nerve that causes sharp, burning pain or the feeling of walking on a marble).
Injuries
Sprains, fractures, or overuse injuries, common among athletes and active individuals.
Improper Footwear
Shoes without proper arch support, cushioning, or fit can lead to pain in the heels, arches, ankles, or balls of the feet.
How Are Foot and Ankle Pain Treated?
Foot and ankle pain can limit your mobility, your confidence, and your quality of life, but you don’t have to manage it alone. Both are often treatable, and in many cases, preventable. Sometimes what feels like a foot or ankle problem is connected to your hip or knee, which can change the way you walk, so we’ll start with a physical exam and ask questions to help pinpoint exactly what’s going on.
From there, your treatment may include:
- ✓Gentle exercises to reduce pain and regain range of motion
- ✓Hip, knee, ankle, and foot strengthening
- ✓Balance and proprioception training
- ✓Activity reintegration back to sport or work
- ✓Manual therapy, addressing how the joints, muscles, and connective tissue move
- ✓Dry needling with electrical stimulation
- ✓Jones strain counterstrain techniques
- ✓Taping, bracing, or night splints
- ✓Guidance on supportive footwear
- ✓Arch supports, off-the-shelf or, when needed, a referral for custom orthotics
- ✓Education to help manage your pain
- ✓Referral to a podiatrist or podiatric surgeon for further testing, such as an X-ray, MRI, or CT scan, when needed
Once we’ve talked with you and identified the underlying issue, we’ll build a treatment plan together at Big Stone Therapies. We want you to feel empowered every step of the way, so you can be an active part of your own recovery. We believe in evidence-based practice, which brings together three things: clinical expertise, current research, and your own knowledge and experience of your body.
If surgery is part of your path forward, our therapists can also help you prepare beforehand and recover afterward, including guidance on using crutches and navigating stairs safely. We follow your surgeon’s post-operative orders while building a rehabilitation plan tailored to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Heel pain that’s worse with your first steps in the morning is a common sign of plantar fasciitis. A physical therapist can help confirm the cause and build a plan to relieve it.
Sprains and fractures can feel similar, especially right after an injury. Pain over a bony area is a sign a fracture should be ruled out with an X-ray, and an MRI can help distinguish a ligament tear from a sprain.
Shin splints cause pain along the inside of the shin bone and are common in runners, while Achilles tendonitis causes pain just above the heel, often worse when rising onto your toes. Both benefit from a proper evaluation to guide treatment.
Yes. While therapy can’t reverse the deformity itself, it can help manage pain, improve function, and, with the right support like arch pads or footwear guidance, slow how quickly symptoms progress.
If your pain lasts more than a few days, comes on suddenly and severely, or comes with numbness, tingling, or burning, it’s worth having evaluated.
Contact Us to Get Started
If foot or ankle pain is disrupting your life, know that relief is possible. Contact us today to schedule an evaluation with our specialists.
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