pain on the ball of the foot

[Paul Petersen]

Over the last week I've been having pain in the ball of my left foot, right under the second metatarsal. At first it sounded similar to what I've read about morton's neuroma, but it's located in the wrong spot (morton's is usually between the third and fourth metatarsals). It feels swollen all the time, like the ball of the foot is bigger than it should be. Kind of painful for walking, although tends to feel better during a run, as the run goes on.

Anyone have any ideas? I've probably try some gel inserts or forefoot cushions.

[Dale]

Sounds exactly like the pain I've had there for several months.  Getting new orthotics from my podiatrist helped but didn't eliminate my pain, but made it manageable.  He added some extra padding to the orthotic behind that area so there wasn't as much pressure on the joint.  Dunno how to solve it long term though....now that everyone has scared me straight on my orthotics dependency problem, I'm going to try Vibram Five-Fingers for strengthening, but I'm having to do that judiciously or my foot just hurts worse.
Good luck.

[Jon Allen]

Not likely, but could it be the start of a bunion/corn/wart or some other dermatological type problem?