Mysterious Tender Feet Could be Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome.
I’ve heard a few patient’s blame tender feet on getting old. Well aging is almost always a factor related to chronic pain. However if you feel like there’s not enough padding on the bottom of your feet with numbness and tingling you might have Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome. That’s right, not “carpal tunnel” but Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome. It can happen to you at almost any age.
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There actually is a tunnel on the inside and a little below your ankle bone (medial malleolus). Three tendons, a nerve and an artery run through that tunnel. So you might imagine that if that tunnel gets irritated or narrows, you have a pretty uncomfortable situation in your foot.
This type of foot pain can be confused with plantar fasciitis but the characteristics of the pain feels different and the area of the foot that hurts is different. It’s important to know the difference to get good therapeutic results. As usual it’s usually due to an alignment imbalance in the ankle and foot. The imbalance could also originate from poor alignment in the hips. These alignment issues can lead to a softened foot arch. As the arch softens, the ankle moves inward when you put weight on your foot as in standing, walking or running. This inward and downward motion irritates the tendons and the nerve that passes through the tarsal tunnel. The result is the aforementioned tenderness, numbness and tingling on the soles and inside of the ankle.
The only nice thing about this situation is that it responds very well to acupuncture, massage and alignment correction exercises. If this sounds like you come and let me help you or share this with a friend who is dealing with foot pain.