Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with foot

Look at this weird thing on my foot.

HotToddy — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:05:27 -0800

Please take a look at pictures of my feet and tell me what is up with these weird dark callouses, and whether I should go to a dermatologist or podiatrist or somebody else. For at least 10 years, maybe more like 20, I have had this callous on my left foot. It is darker than it appears in the photo, and there is a knob underneath it, but the knob feels like bone. Now I am getting another one on my right foot. The knob under the right one is much smaller than the knob under the left one. The knobs are hard and do not move if I try to push them.

This is not caused by shoes or any other type of friction. I don't have shoes that rub those spots, and I don't habitually sit with pressure on those spots or do anything else that I can identify that would cause friction there. I don't have spots like this anywhere else on my body.

I have tried various abrasives and callous-removing medications, but these aren't like regular callouses. A callous on your heels is kind of porous and spongy. This is more like just very thick, weird elephant skin.

They have gradually gotten much darker and now are seriously interfering with the cuteness of my shoes. I want them gone.

My questions:

1. What the hell are they?
2. What kind of doctor should I see? Dermatologist? Podiatrist? Or what?

Thanks all!

Orthotics and Tennis

charlesv — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:41:11 -0800

Orthotics and tennis shoes? I am a novice tennis player. I have sesamoiditis due in part to high arches. To help with this, I wear orthotics .

My problem is that they do not want to stay put in my tennis shoe. They are stable laterally, so they do not slide side-to-side, but they slide forward. My orthotics are only partly rigid plastic, so the front part, which is a softer material, smushes against the front of the shoe and the orthotic slides forward. I had a pair of Asics that had this problem, so I switched to Reeboks. When I tried them on in the store, no problem. It was not until after I spent an hour or so running around on the court that I noticed they did not want to stay put.

I would especially appreciate recommendations from other folks out there that have foot problems and wear their orthotics while playing tennis.

How do I make them stay in place during play? Is there a way to make them stay put, like some kind of double-sided tape? Or are there shoes I can buy that will work better with orthotics? Or should I just give up wearing them during games and practice?

Phantom Foot Thumb

Lownotes — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:03:12 -0800

Does anyone else ever feel the presence of a phantom thumb jutting out of the side of their foot? Since I was a kid, I've been able to create a phantom thumb sensation along the side of my foot at will. It feels like my foot takes on the appearance of a monkey foot, and I can distinctly feel the opposable toe/thumb.

Whenever I tell this to my friends, they also can feel it. Sometimes they have to hold out their hand and compare the layout of their foot to their hand before it kicks in. For most, this is disturbing.

Anyone else? Are there any references to this phenomenon in the science literature? Is this some strange vestigial evolutionary quirk? Is it some sort of body-mapping malfunction?

Help me find a word relating to balance

Mil — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:15:58 -0800

I'm searching for a word, possibly a technical or medical term, that I think starts with the letter p, and that defines the relationship between the bones in the feet as they apply to overall balance. Am I dreaming this word?

How do you get rid of extremely stubborn plantar warts?

inatizzy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:42:19 -0800

Advice for treating some ridiculously persistent plantar warts? What remedies do you know that have been successful after all others have failed? Is there anyone who specializes in treating plantar warts? (In the Boston area.) The details, as briefly as possible.

- Have had a wart on the bottom of my foot for almost 8 years, right where I put my weight. Got it treated within months of noticing it, but it didn't respond to freezing or salicylic acid so I home-treated by cutting it down with nail clippers whenever it got too big and painful to walk on. (I picked at it enough to create a little crater, usually.) Thought it would go away on its own in time.

- Fast forward to two years ago. Wart still going strong as ever and has grown into a mosaic wart. (lots of little warts together.) I get serious about treatment and try freezing, Compound W equivalent, duct tape, topical steroid, candida antigen, led meditation (aka hypnosis), and most recently, Heal Warts. (Has anyone actually had success with Heal Warts? I thought I saw a reduction in the number of blood vessels after I'd used it for awhile, but I'm skeptical that they were related, and the wart is still as big and painful as ever.)

- Now, the wart is still alive and going strong. In fact, within the past few months while I've been using Heal Warts, I've developed warts on the top of my big toe by the nail, on the knuckle of the toe next to it, and on one of my fingers. (Before this, it had been at least 6-7 years since I'd developed new warts.)

- I have read a lot online and on Ask MeFi. I know that it is caused by a strain of HPV. I have heard of people whose warts were cured with Gardasil (HPV vaccine) and I am about to start the 3-shot series, but I don't know if I can really rely on that since the HPV strain that causes warts is not included in the vaccine.

- I have seen the articles online that debunk the idea that duct tape, banana peel, etc. are better than placebo.

- At the top of the leg with the warty foot (the same side as the warty finger), I have a swollen lymph gland. I don't have this on the other side (which has no warts) so I wonder if this is somehow related to my body trying to fight this virus. I noticed it a few weeks ago and it may have been enlarged for who knows how long before that; I've not seen an improvement in my warts since noticing it, though.

- I am not interested in surgical removal (cutting it out) or laser treatment. The wart is huge and I am afraid of scarring which could leave me with just as much discomfort. (except then, it would be permanent.) Also, since it's caused by a virus, the warts could just come back. (though at this point I'll admit I'm becoming increasingly focused on getting rid of this one rather than eradicating warts forever.)

::phew:: I'm sorry that was not very short. I would be extremely grateful for any advice you can give me, especially coming from situations similar to mine, where the warts are mosaic and have been extremely hard to treat. If you have personal experiences with treatments (successful or not) I'd love to hear them, as well as any specialists or websites or medical papers you can point me to.

Thank you!!

Form, yay! Function, boo!

ElmerFishpaw — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:40:22 -0800

Our new place has a Clawfoot bathtub and Im having trouble adjusting to the clawfoot-lifestyle. It looks pretty cool but Im finding that to be its only redeeming quality.

Do you have one? Where did you find a shower curtain wide enough for it? I cant seem to find a way to shower without soaking the bathroom floor.

How do you store your soap/bathy things? Do you know of a useful storage caddy that will work for this type of tub? Should I just get used to this thing being a pain in the neck?

Any tips/anecdotes are helpful. Thanks!

Super Healing Powers

decathecting — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:51:09 -0800

Any tips for faster ways to recover from a twisted ankle/bruised foot? Yesterday, while running in my office in flip flops (yes, I am a complete idiot), I fell in a spectacular (and I am told, hilarious) manner, and twisted my ankle. I have a moderate amount of bruising on the top of my foot, but there's no swelling all all. It hurts, but I can still walk okay.

In exactly 8 days, I am scheduled to direct a conference at which I am responsible for chasing after 60 college kids. I need to not be limping around. How can I maximize my healing so that I will be able to perform this task ably without further injuring myself?

I'm currently doing the ice and ibuprofen routine, staying off of it as much as I can (though I have to go to work and walk around a bit, as I'm preparing for the conference), elevating it when I'm sitting, and wearing an ace bandage whenever I'm out and about. Is there anything else I should be doing? Could a doctor do something else that I'm not doing, or would s/he just tell me to do what I'm already doing?

I'm pretty confident that it's just a twisted ankle or a bruised muscle, not a fracture. I broke my foot a few years ago, and I had massive swelling. This doesn't feel like that, and there has been no swelling at all. So I don't think it's broken. But if you all tell me that I need to see a doctor for an x-ray, I will.

Debilitating pain in both heels.

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:00:33 -0800

Unusual, debilitating pain in both heels. Ouch. Advice? Woke up Monday morning with pain in both heels but was able to function OK. By the end of the workday I was limited to about 50 percent mobility, and walking was not particularly unpleasant. It's now a couple of hours before dawn on Tuesday and I was awakened because the pain has turned debilitating, even the pressure of a single sheet hurts. I'm pretty much unable to walk, got down the hall slowly on the balls of my feet and supporting myself on the wall.

My best guess is that I injured it Sunday afternoon when I climbed up a sort of metal grate. On the way down I hopped the last couple of feet, landing more solidly on my left foot, which is the more painful of the two. I performed this act of gymnastics while wearing shoes that, admittedly, are very very worn down in the heels and probably don't have good support. I'm thinking I have a bad sprain most likely. But are there any other things that could cause these symptoms? Something more serious that I should be concerned about?

Note that I did not experience any pain at the time of the incident. The onset was about 12 hours later when I woke up.

A couple of things:
* No visible bruising. Don't particularly notice any swelling, although it's possible since I don't examine this part of my body closely or with enough interest to really remember what's it's supposed to look like.
* There's also pain/soreness in the joint of the knee of the left leg, the one that took the harder hit on Sunday.
* I will go to the doctor if necessary. I will go to the doctor if necessary. I will go to the doctor if necessary. But insurance and phobias and other issues make it something I'd prefer to avoid if possible. Just like many others who'd post an anonymous health AskMe, of course.

How do I rehab my formerly broken foot?

mostlymartha — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:22:22 -0800

My broken foot is healing rather nicely. I'm off my crutches and walking on the boot. My orthopedist gave me some instructions for stretching and rehabbing, but they weren't very specific. How can I do better physical therapy at home? I fractured the base of my fifth metatarsal seven and a half weeks ago. As instructed by my orthopedist, I wore the big velcro boot and used my crutches with no weight bearing for six weeks. As of last Thursday, I'm allowed to walk on the boot, and after two weeks or so, I'm supposed to transition to a stiff shoe. There's virtually no pain from the actual break anymore, but as would be expected, my calf, foot, and especially ankle are extremely stiff and weak. There's also still a fair bit of swelling and general foot puffiness, soft tissue ache, and some weird nerve tingly stuff that she said was all normal.

My doctor said she would have liked to put me in physical therapy, but since I don't have insurance, it's just much too expensive. She told me to rotate my ankle in both directions, do figure eights and write the alphabet with my toes. She suggested I do so five-ish times a day for at least 10 minutes. Later, I'm supposed to start doing calf lifts and maybe get some therabands.

I've been rotating my ankle like a mad man, and I can already tell it's helping. Even though it's pretty uncomfortable when I start, I've got a much bigger range of motion in my ankle and a not entirely unpleasant sort of post-exercise soreness (which she also said was normal).

My concern is that my orthopedist was kind of rushed and not as specific as I would have liked in terms of how to do the rehab stuff. Of course, physical therapy is the way to go, but since I can't make that happen, I was wondering what I can do to be the best at home ankle rehabber I can be.

My foot is broken......help...

watercarrier — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:09:11 -0800

How do I care for a broken foot? Metatarsel first fractured now broken. Pain on upper foot, along the middle. Can't put down pressure. How to self-treat and heal? Supplements, bandages, compresses?

Thank you,
watercarrier
(carrying no water this week and in the weeks to come....)

hobble.......

Mystery pain in sole of left foot

maudlin — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:12:56 -0800

I suddenly developed a knot/lump and pain in the ball of my foot late last night that has persisted for 24 hours. I know it's not plantar fasciitis as I don't have stabbing pains in my heel or midfoot. I was walking around the house last night in some ill-fitting socks that got twisted around and creased to the point where they were uncomfortable to walk in, so I took them off. Immediately, I felt as if there was a lump in the ball of my left foot, and it was very sore when I walked on carpet or the wood floor. I presumed I had contorted my sole in an attempt not to walk on the creased part of the sock.

I went to bed shortly afterwards, and when I got up this morning, it felt significantly better, but it's been getting bad again and now hurts as much as last night. I've been barefoot in the house all day, no socks or shoes. Massage with my little rubber reflex hammer, which helped a lot with the plantar fasciitis I dealt with a couple of years ago, doesn't seem to break up the knot or relieve the soreness.

The ball of the left foot is definitely swollen. The lump -- right in the middle -- is sore when pressed. The top of my left foot, at the instep, feels bruised in comparison to my right foot, but nothing is visibly different. I've taken some Advil and am resting my left foot on an icepack and it seems to be helping a bit.

Right now, I'm presuming that this is a weird but temporary strain that will resolve itself in another day or so. But are there any other scenarios or treatments that I should consider?

It's not a wad of gum, what else could it be?

a22lamia — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 05:24:21 -0800

Last night all was fine when I sat down. When I got up twenty minutes later I began to walk and it felt like there was a wad of gum under the ball of my foot. I checked and under the callous at the distal end of my first metatarsal it is visibly swollen. The area is nearly a quarter inch thicker than the same area on my other foot. The area is not painful, but the shear size of it makes me walk funny. I'll go to the Dr. on Monday, but until then, does anyone have any ideas about what it can be? Googling hasn't given me any clues.

People paws?

gottabefunky — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:49:14 -0800

If toes and fingers are digits, and arms and legs are appendages (limbs, extremities), what's the general anatomical term for hands and feet?

Normal, poisson with a twist of outliers.

blue_beetle — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:48:57 -0800

Do foot sizes follow a normal distribution?

Is a bird's foot bleachable and keepable?

proj — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:15:28 -0800

My fiancee found a bird's foot/claw on the ground. She thinks it's like a bone that can be boiled/bleached to sanitize it and have it as a weird knick-knack. I think it's more like a piece of meat that will rot and bring germs in to the house. Who's right?

Where can I buy ice skates for my big feet?

gaelenh — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:36:58 -0800

Where can I buy large size ice hockey skates? I want to own a pair of ice skates so that I don't have to try to squeeze my foot into whatever beaten up pair the rink has for rental (usually size 13, sometimes 14). I wear a size 15/16 shoe. I think this correlates to a size 14 ice hockey skate.

I haven't had luck finding any online or in store (NYC). Any suggestions?

What can I do about my (freezing) cold feet?

FortyT-wo — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:17:12 -0800

How can I keep my ice-cold feet warm, or reheat them once they do get cold? I get cold feet. So cold that I frequently lose feeling in my toes while wearing shoes and socks in a room that is of comfortable temperature to the rest of my body. So cold that when I go to bed at night, and turn my heated mattress pad onto 'high', it takes (literally) two+ hours for them to heat through. So cold that I have to move them around the bed for a long time because anywhere I put them actually makes the bed cold. My feet keep me awake and feeling uncomfortable most winter nights. Any touch of my toes to my partner at night sends him howling. They're awful little blocks of ice.

This happens every winter, all my adult life. I've tried slippers, and they do nothing. Wearing shoes and socks until bedtime does nothing either. When I was in my early 20s I used to take a shower every night before bed, just to warm my feet through, and it worked... But my current lifestyle just won't allow it. Also my skin is getting much drier as I get older and two showers a day would probably cause some scaly issues.

Any recommendations from anyone who's beat this problem? I've looked at microwave heated slippers and electric foot warmers. I'm wondering if the microwave slippers are actually effective, if they can put out enough heat not to be made completely cold by my feet. The reviews of electric foot warmers I've read are not so great, often saying the "warming" function is a joke. I've also wondered if one of those paraffin baths would fix my problem, but I'm not sure if it would get expensive to use it every day for 4 months a year. Or if they're meant to be used in such a way.

Any ideas greatly appreciated. To have my feet just be at body temperature when I go to bed would be a godsend.

I apologize if this has been asked and answered before. Searching for "cold feet" obviously returned a lot of nonrelevant stuff.

how do i overcome an addicting itch?

Hat Maui — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:45:19 -0800

I have a skin irritation on the top of my foot/ankle and I can't stop scratching it. i've tried neosporin, cortisone, bandages, etc. it heals to a certain point and then gets incredibly itchy.

the irritation is now essentially a shallow (but growing) skin wound that i keep damaging because i cannot resist the urge to scratch. it's got a lot in common with an addiction, actually.

how do i resist it enough for the skin on my foot to completely heal?

Toenail remnant

BigSky — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:23:15 -0800

A couple of months ago my big toenail went black after a run. Maybe 10-15 days ago it came loose, but only on one side. Since the other side was still anchored I cut off the flapping half. Nothing's happened since then. Please advise. I've been trying to pull free the remaining section with some needlenose pliers. It isn't painful, but I'm not getting anywhere. I usually do it after a shower because I think the skin being soft will help. Is there anything else I can do? Do I need to see a podiatrist? If so, what would that cost?

Why are you sitting on the floor?

Glitter Ninja — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:25:38 -0800

Knee and foot pain. How do I get through working a 9 hour retail shift? Over the past few days, I've noticed an increasingly bad pain in my right knee in the mornings, and an incredible stiffness and soreness that doesn't go away, even after a couple of days off and a long hot bath (I work full time, so 5 days a week).

The foot pain is mostly in my heels and ankles, and I think may just be because I'm not used to retail. I've been wearing sneakers instead of my dressy work shoes in an attempt to alleviate it, but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

The pain in my knee is there all the time- when I wake up, when I shower, when I drive, or walk around the store putting up tags. It's just kind of a dull throbbing when I'm sitting down, but turns sharp if I bend it.

Do I need to see a doctor, and how can I get through my work shifts in the meantime while I hurt in some fashion the whole time?

What's this lump on my toe?

otherwordlyglow — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:35:21 -0800

What is this weird painless lump at the base of my toe? In the last year, I've noticed that I have a small-ish (maybe 1/4") hard lump at the base of my middle toe on my right toe. It's on the side, so basically between the 2nd and 3rd toe (counting from the big toe as toe 1). It doesn't hurt at all, isn't discolored, and doesn't seem to affect my walking. I don't have anything like this on any other toe of either foot. It's possible that it's gotten slightly larger since I noticed it but not significantly. What could it be?

Yes, I'll ask a doctor about it but since it's painless and not causing any discomfort I wonder if it's okay to wait until the next time I'm in there. It seems sort of silly to make an appointment just for this. If it matters, I'm 39, female, and in good health.

Surely Word's Embedded Audio Can't Too Crippled To Export or Control

icebourg — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:48:22 -0800

How to change the program Word opens embedded audio with? Alternatively, suggestions for foot-pedal software that plays well with audio embedded in Word or RTF documents. When you have an embedded audio file in Word, the only program Word will open it with is Sound Recorder. (doesn't matter what wav files are associated with in Explorer) Is there a way to change this behavior?

If not, is there a way to extract the audio as a wav and save it somewhere? (I am aware that you can open it, copy and paste it into a new Sound Recorder window, then save it wherever you want, but I'm hoping for something simpler for our transcriptionists)

I'm also open to some script or program that will parse the RTF and export the wav file. (I could modify it to make it easy for our users)

And if neither is possible, does anyone have recommendations for foot-pedal software the plays nice with embedded RTF/Word audio? We have WAVPedal now, but it has the limitation that it needs to be able to get its hand on an actual wav file, it won't control Sound Recorder or Word's internal sound player.

We are using Word 2003 on XP.

Pain under foot when waklking.

PowerCat — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:14:30 -0800

Yesterday I started feeling pain when I walk. It happens when my foot is bent upwards, before taking your foot off the surface. The pain happens right in the middle of 4 and 5 on this picture : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Foot.png

What could it be? Should I see a physiotherapist?

Please god help my blistered feet

sergeant sandwich — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:42:04 -0800

How do I stop getting these huge blisters on my feet whenever I do certain sports? I just got home from an hour of basketball and once again have large, hurty blisters on both feet! This happens to me anytime I do any kind of sport that requires rapid lateral changes of direction, such as basketball, soccer, football etc.

They are always large (quarter-sized or so), in the same spot (along the inner edge of the ball of my feet), and on both feet. I can feel it when they form -- I plant and change direction, and it feels like the top layer of skin is kind of shearing off the underlying layers. yuck.

I've tried a lot of the recommended treatments for foot blisters like double socks and taping the spot but haven't had any luck. It happens with a lot of different kinds of shoes (general cross-trainers, soccer cleats, running shoes, etc.) I almost never get blisters when walking or jogging, just during these explosive type starts and stops.

One thing that may conceivably be an issue is my weight; I am about 225 lbs, 5'10", but I still had the exact same problem a few years ago when i was 35 lbs lighter and a lot more fit. So I kind of suspect it's not that, but I'm open to thoughts on the matter.

Anyone had this kind of trouble? What helped? A certain kind of shoe? Smaller shoes? Inserts of some kind? Just gritting your teeth and doing it a lot til you get calloused? (I've tried that, they pop and then i get new blisters underneath the old ones... boo).

Failing that, anyone know one of those really good shoe stores in Toronto where the foot gurus can look at how I run and have some insight?

Yamuna Body Rolling?

sdis — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:59:45 -0800

Experiences with Yamuna Body Rolling, anyone? Specifically the foot-savers part of it? Other foot-strength-training exercise programs for people with foot pain/flat feet/plantar faciitis? I have flat feet and bad plantar faciitis, and I'm looking for some way to strength train my feet. I've read somewhere on the internets about this YBR stuff, and that nurses tend to find large amounts of success with it despite standing all day. Anyone know anything more about it personally?