[pct-l] Foot pain - top of arch

[Gary Wright]

On Dec 8, 2009, at 5:06 PM, J J at Ridge Trail wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> I'm going to the VA Medical Center in San Francisco in two days to have my foot looked at. I have considerable soreness along the top of the arch of my left foot, especially at night after a two or three hour local daily hike.
> 
> There is probably a wealth of experience of foot pain - and solutions on this list. So, I'm asking.

My thoughts:  I had severe foot pain and swelling hiking into Cascade Locks.  ER said it was probably a stress fracture but stress fractures don't show on an x-ray until the bone starts to heal (10-14 days).  A more expensive bone scan can show stress fractures sooner but I didn't want to pay for the extra scans (the ER visit itself was already expensive).

Upon advice of other hikers, I went to a sports medicine specialist the next day and he was able to give me a much better diagnosis (stress fracture on the 3rd metatarsal) than the ER. I ended up cutting my thru-hike short and walking around with a boot on my foot for 6-8 weeks to prevent the foot from flexing.

So my 2-cents is to see a sports medicine specialist if you think it was a hiking injury of some sort.

Gary Wright (Radar)