Forums >Running 101>Crippling Daily Numbness in Balls of Feet
Hi everyone,
I began running daily in November of 2017. I was very out of shape when I started, so I decided to ramp up really slowly. I started running just 10 minutes per day at five miles per hour five days per week, then very gradually went up to 20 minutes per day at six miles per hour five days per week, followed by two miles of walking. I started running on a treadmill because I'm far north enough where winters are serious business, then moved outside in late spring. (On rainy days, I still run on the treadmill.) My shoe of choice was Vibram FiveFingers from the beginning not because I particulary care about being natural, but because most normal shoes chafe me, sometimes to the point where my feet bleed. This was never a problem in Vibram FiveFingers. I read that you're supposed to land on the balls of your feet when you run in Vibram FiveFingers, so I trained myself to do that when running. (I still land on my heels when walking.)
Anyway, for the past couple of months, I've experienced numbness and soreness while running that starts in the ball of one foot and sometimes feels like it's radiating upward. It doesn't consistently happen in one foot, but sometimes happens in my left foot and sometimes my right. When it happens, sometimes the toes of the foot feel like they're either "stuck" curled downward or upward. This tight sensation is the first warning sign that my foot is about to go bad. Once it statrs, it feels like my foot's gone haywire and has stopped responding to signals from my brain. It starts slapping the ground very hard regardless of my efforts to keep running normally and I start limping at a slow speed. If I continue, it feels like I'm going to fall any second, especially if I'm on the treadmill. I haven't fallen yet, but the bottom of the affected foot does scrape against the ground instead of coming all the way off it. I would say this now happens about 90% of the time when I run on the treadmill, usually approaching the one-mile mark, and happens about 30% of the time when I run outdoors, usually approaching the two-mile mark. It stops within seconds if I switch to walking, but once it's started for the day, I can't resume running without limping. The only medical condition I have that's caused numbess in my feet in the past would be Raynaud's disease, but that only affects me when I'm cold or really stressed out, so I don't see what would trigger it when I'm just running outside normally.
My mother-in-law told me I have been doing this to myself by running in Vibram FiveFingers and landing on the balls of my feet instead of the heels. Is this true? My husband told me it's because I land so hard that I shake the treadmill or make smacking sounds against the pavement. I've tried to run more quietly, but even when I'm totally focused on doing so, he says I sound just as loud.
Please help me before I get so frustrated that I give up on running.
Old , Ugly and slow
You should not let a shoe decide how to run
I would start with running by landing on your heel first
Then try another shoe
You should be able to find one that doesn't rub.
Maybe you might need to put vasoline on where it rubs.
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
You should not let a shoe decide how you run I would start with running by landing on your heel first Then try another shoe You should be able to find one that doesn't rub. Maybe you might need to put vasoline on where it rubs.
You should not let a shoe decide how you run
Hi everyone, I began running daily in November of 2017. My husband told me it's because I land so hard that I shake the treadmill or make smacking sounds against the pavement. I've tried to run more quietly, but even when I'm totally focused on doing so, he says I sound just as loud. Please help me before I get so frustrated that I give up on running.
I began running daily in November of 2017.
My husband told me it's because I land so hard that I shake the treadmill or make smacking sounds against the pavement. I've tried to run more quietly, but even when I'm totally focused on doing so, he says I sound just as loud.
I started running in VFFs about 9 years ago now and have averaged about 2K miles per year since 2013. You haven't been running that long and it takes time to acclimate the feet (read muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones) to the stresses necessary to run comfortably. You didn't say how old you are and that can alter things (older runners take more time to recover). The most common mistake when transitioning to VFFs is Too Much Too Soon (TMTS). Certainly true in my case, I'm going to say it took me 2 years to make it through a year mostly uninjured. The first couple of years I struggled with calf (pulls and strains) and foot problems (neuromas). Make sure you don't wear your shoes too tight. Your feet are going to need time to adjust to the new loads/stresses you're putting on them and I'm going to guess that there is a bit of inflammation involved.
The second thing to note is that your husband says you're landing pretty loudly. That is an indication that you're not strong enough in the foot and lower leg for the loads you're putting on them. If you are truly landing on the ball of the foot, there shouldn't be much noise unless you're running fairly fast. There are a couple of exercises you can try to strengthen these, heel raises (stand flat and raise heels 'til your on tippy toes and hold for a couple of seconds then back down) and jumping (like jumping rope, but don't let your heels touch). I used to do 5 sets of ten on the heel raises mostly every day and jumping 5 sets of 10-15 seconds. Also, I did a lot of eccentric calf stretches (for me climb stairs or a ladder and back down slowly one leg at a time) . Search youtube for good examples of how to do these.
If you've detected swelling in your feet, I would suggest ice baths to reduce the inflammation. Ice baths are initially painful, but they're effective. Contrast baths or good too - these are alternating between hot and cold baths every 2-3 minutes. These are fairly easy for feet and ankles as you can usually use a bucket or large bowl. In both cases your total time is 15-20 minutes. I'm not sure how Reynaud's syndrome would calculate into this, it might be that contrast baths would be more effective in your case. You have to objectives, one is to increase blood flow (speeds recovery) and two to keep the swelling down. The contrast baths are meant to accomplish both, where as a straight ice batch is more for swelling. It has been shown that NSAIDs (ibuprofen) slows the recovery/healing process for both muscles and tendons, so avoiding these will be beneficial in the long run.
Getting back to TMTS, you might want to reduce your weekly load. Active recovery (less strenuous) exercise has been shown to reduce recovery/healing time. That is you want to do as much as you can, but without stressing the healing/recovering parts. For example, you might want to run only 4 times a week, but walk for several miles on the days you don't run. This should increase the blood flow to those areas without stressing them further.
It really does take time to develop the infrastructure to run in a barefoot style. I think the rewards outweigh the risks. In my case, I would not be running at all if I was heel striking and was willing to make the transition. YMMV...
Ray
Evolving body parts
most normal shoes chafe me, sometimes to the point where my feet bleed. This was never a problem in Vibram FiveFingers. I read that you're supposed to land on the balls of your feet when you run in Vibram FiveFingers, so I trained myself to do that when running. (I still land on my heels when walking.)
Wow, bleeding feet definitely prove you tried pretty hard to make this work and not give up...
I'd try Nike Free or a similar not too complicated running shoe before committing to VFF. For me personally they are pretty much perfect and are a good compromise between the mainstream overconstructed things and running barefoot. Good enough cushioning so your soles are safe, but they allow extremely nice foot & toe freedom. Okay I'm not an expert and when I started out using some Adidas jobs 25 years ago I thought they are the best. Then came the Asics period - perfect shoes in the solar system. Now it's the NF But seriously, they help me land a bit more gently and I can stay injury free in them. One thing I especially like is the very minimalistic heel counter - all my 'regular' shoes disintegrated first at the heel area because of the vertical heel movement - causing chafing in the process of course. None of that here.
Too sad that they stopped making the real Free's. Now they have a new version, which is a step back according to many.