While you have your foot in your hand, rub gently along the bottom. This will help release the plantar fascia. Try this stretch throughout the day: While seated, grab your big toe, pull it back as far as you can tolerate, and hold it for 10 seconds. More than three-fourths of the time, Conenello believes, runners can address arch pain from running at home.

How can you manage arch pain from running on your own-and when should you see a doctor? The Best Comfy Walking Shoes for Wearing Every Day.The 25 Golden Rules of Long-Distance Running.Of course, staying sedentary isn’t the solution-sitting too much contributes to weakness in your plantar muscles, Conenello points out. Wearing non-supportive shoes, especially for activities that involve lots of standing or walking, don’t do your feet any favors. Fournier also sees arch pain in runners who hang on to their running shoes well past their expiration date.Īnd then there are the things you do the 23 or so hours of the day you’re not running. Making a switch from running on softer surfaces to harder ones-say, going from trails to roads or gravel to concrete-can also bring on tenderness in this area, as can always running on the same side of the road, if the street is sloped or cambered. Adding too many fast miles proves especially risky, due to the added pounding, Fournier says. Arch pain when running can also result from osteoarthritis in the joints across the middle of the foot, she says.Įxternal causes of arch pain from running include ramping up your training too quickly. Conversely, low arches or flat feet can also contribute, especially in the wrong shoe, says Judith Sperling, D.P.M., a podiatrist at the Twin Cities Foot & Ankle Clinic in Woodbury, Minnesota, who has worked as part of the medical teams for the New York City, Boston, L.A., and Twin Cities Marathons.Īs your arch caves in, your posterior tibial tendon-which attaches the calf to the inside of the foot-works overtime to support it, and eventually can become fatigued and painful. On the intrinsic side, high arches can cause pain if you don’t have the right footwear to support them.

Join Runner's World+ for unlimited access to the best training tips for runners Like many other foot issues, plantar fasciitis and other types of arch pain can come from two primary sources, says Maggie Fournier, D.P.M., a sports podiatrist in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and past president of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine: Intrinsic factors, which are related to your individual anatomy and physiology, and extrinsic factors, which come from outside your body-think shoes, terrain, or training habits.

This can cause soreness anywhere along the bottom of your foot, including your arch, he says. When the four plantar muscles underneath it become weak or deconditioned, the plantar fascia sustains more stress with each step, triggering inflammation. Indeed, many cases involve a stabbing, stepped-on-a-nail sensation near the back of the foot, especially first thing in the morning.īut the plantar fascia is a thick band of tissue that runs all the way from your heel to the base of your toes. If runners know the term, they probably associate it with heel pain, Conenello says. In some cases, arch pain when running signals plantar fasciitis. What’s to blame for this parade of aching feet-and what can you do if find yourself suffering? Here’s what Conenello and other sports medicine experts advise. “In the close to 30 years I’ve been practicing, it has definitely increased,” he says. As a busy sports-medicine podiatrist in Orangeburg, New York, Robert Conenello, D.P.M., sees runners with a wide range of foot problems, from Achilles problems to bunions to stress fractures.īut more than anything else-along the lines of 15 times a day-athletes walk into his office complaining of heel and arch pain when running.

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