Have you been doing any new exercise lately? Longer walks? Jogging? Heck, even different shoes? You can get strained feet by prolonged walking in "toe-thong" shoes like flip-flops, since your toes actually have to grip with each stride to keep the shoe in place, even if you are not aware you're doing it. Essentially what you're creating is repetitive strain that can lead to injury. Also, high heels can be a major culprit. If you've been to a wedding lately and danced in those high stilettos, not surprisingly you might have painful feet.

But even if you haven't been doing any of the above, I wouldn't jump immediately to joint pain/tendonitis. The initial swelling to me suggests an injury of some sort, even if you aren't aware exactly when you did it. Sometimes these things just happen. For instance, my mom walked around on a broken foot for days. It was chalked up to a stress fracture but to this day she doesn't know when it actually happened.

A few years ago, I strained the tendon on the top of my right foot, probably a combination of starting a new jogging regime and not having the best supportive running shoes. I also don't know exactly when it happened, just that I started noticing my foot was quite painful, especially when I initially got up from a seated position. This lasted for several weeks. It eventually subsided and hasn't been a problem since. It didn't bother to mention it to my doctor, but in general, soft tissue injuries such as muscle strain can take as long as 3-12 weeks to heal, so keep that in mind.

Basically, sometimes muscle strain is just muscle strain. It's easy to want to blame everything on our UC, but we are just as prone to the normal everyday problems other people face. That being said, if the pain persists, worsens or if you are really concerned about it, it wouldn't hurt just to have your GP take a look.

3 - 12 weeks ? Oh dear....nope, no new exercises, no dancing, no different shoes, just got up one day and there it was. I plan to ride it out, no doctor visits yet. TY for the suggestions!

Quick question .. How so they treat a stress fracture?

Yeah, I was thinking more along the line of injury or maybe even regular old fashioned osteoarthritis, rather than inflammatory type associated with IBD. If you tend toward flat feet, then you are more prone to the type of pain you describe, with pain in the instep, especially if you have spent your life in flat shoes or barefoot much of the time. Even though it may seem sudden, it could have been building up for years or decades until you got to that tipping point, and like Spooky says, maybe you did some extra exercise that you normally do not do.

My sister-in-law was convinced (by a podiatrist) that she should have surgery for her instep pain by having a bone spur removed. I think I scared her out of it, and she found that consistently wearing supportive shoes or arch support inserts helped a great deal. She can now walk for miles again.

I do have foot related issues with my enteropathic arthritis, but it is mostly with the Achilles tendon and/or plantar fasciitis (bottom of the arch). Folks who get avascular necrosis in the foot mostly have issues in the ankle bones.

Jan

quote:

Quick question .. How so they treat a stress fracture?

I guess it would depend on the severity of the fracture. Some are just hairline and you'd just have to keep off the foot/minimal weight-bearing, so you might be prescribed crutches for a few weeks, or perhaps an air boot. With my mom, since she walked around on the fracture for days and days, by the time the pain and swelling got bad enough that she went to urgent care, the x-ray showed that the fracture had actually displaced, so she was put in a walking cast. According to the physician, it was the displacement that caused all the swelling and bruising. Prior to that she just had foot pain; she wasn't thinking fracture. They sent her for bone scans as well for follow up. She does have osteopenia.

Yours doesn't really sound like a fracture, though; of course I'm not a doctor.

With the muscle strain, yes, 3-12 weeks is the norm (I work in disability claims, so I hear this all the time! ). That being said, if it is strain, you should be noticing a gradual improvement during that timeframe.

This may be a reach, but is your second toe longer than your big toe? Morton's toe - can cause problems that start out of no where (I speak from experience - I think my issues began with a simple stomping of the feet to get dirt off the shoe). Osteoarthritis is another definite explanation.

You might want to see a podiatrist - they'll x-ray to rule out a stress fracture. If osteoarthritis or Morton's toe, a steroid injection (done well, by a very competent podiatrist) can solve your issues, at least temporarily.

I have the same foot pain and it came on suddenly too. It is attributed to Osteoarthritis. I get the pain when it is inflamed, very tender when I walk but not painful to touch.