Metatarsalgia, an unusual thing happened to make it better

metatarsalgia is a non-nonsensical diagnosis. It just means pain in the metatarsal area!
Just like saying you have a "sore knee" - could be 100's of very different things. No dr should be using that term.

Hard to say what happened with your experience ..

Sound like you have 'plantar plate dysfunction' <-- look that up.

 

Sorry, I used metararsalgia, not the doc. He did explain it correctly. Regarding plantar plate disfunction.. I looked it up and it does not quite match my symptoms. My toes are straight and do not hook. Could it be I have a small plantar plate tear and the major indicators are not with me yet? A year ago, the pain was more in the metatarsal area with a slight burning sensation even when my foot was up with no pressure on it. This has subsided and the pain is now more in the toe and just into the metatarsal pad.

Let me describe where my current pain is a bit better. If I take my second toe and bend it down, it hurts at the base of the toe. If I put pressure with my finger on the underside of that toe at its base by the metatarsal pad, it hurts on the bottom of the toe and also a bit in the metatarsal pad. This is the same on each foot.

 

Yes cancer can be grow in any part of the body..especially the neglected one

 

Another observation... The pain has moved a bit and now it is mainly in my second toe, (next to big toe). It hurts when the toe is bent down or pressed underneath. There is still some pain in the metatarsal area too. Ideas....???

 

And yet another observation. I spent three days at hotels and while there I spent some time on the exercise bike. A decent amount of exertion for about 1/2 hour each time. And my feet feel better.

So could exercise be doing something with blood flow? Could it be nerve issues in my legs? The exercise doing something to my nerves in my legs? This is really strange and I intend on experimenting and seeing if I can duplicate the results again. I am hesitant to talk this over with the doctor just yet.

any ideas?

 

Well, so for I can modulate my foot pain with aerobic exercise. Just 10 min on the bike and my foot pain is almost gone for a day. So strange. This is not a light load on the bike but moderate. Certainly not extreme. Heart rate up over 100, which is good for me as my resting HR is usually in the low 50's and I'm 59.

 

Just an update. It looks like an ACE inhibitor, taken for blood pressure, helps with my metatarsal pain. I was on 5mg and ran out for a few days and noticed my feet hurt more, so when I filled the prescription, I doubled it to 10mg and feet felt better. I repeated this and noticed it was repeatable. Any ideas?

I have recent had to change to another med and the pain in my feet was similar to taking no ACE inhibitor. ACE inhibitors work by enlarging the small blood vessels.

"Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors(ACE inhibitors) are medications that slow (inhibit) the activity of the enzyme ACE, which decreases the production of angiotensin II. As a result, blood vessels enlarge or dilate, and blood pressure is reduced."

Any ideas?

 

It looks like I have found, unless it was completely coincidental, what the problem was and what solved it. In reading about my problem, a condition was found called Metatarsophalangeal Synovitis, (pain in the 2nd toe joint). According to the web sites, the cause is from a tightening of the calf and tendon which either pulls too much on the 2nd toe, and apparently the other parts in the metatarsal area and causes the pain. The solution is to stretch the calf. The sites say to stretch three times a day and to not expect results for weeks. They were correct. It took three weeks before I noticed improvement and it was slow.

Here are the links.
https://angryorthopod.com/2016/03/calf-stretching/
https://onestretch.com/mtp-synovitis/