Foot injury

[Rach81]

OK, asking for a bit of help for a foot injury I seem to have acquired as I live in the middle of nowhere with no access to a physio or sports injury clinic. Waiting list for the local GP is huge and I don't really want to bother the hospital Dr.
Anyway, 2 days ago I ran for about 8km's and then walked a bit to cool down. Within a kilometre of walking a developed this sharp pain in my right foot. The pain is at the side of my foot, right at the bottom and directly below the outside of my ankle. This pain remained the same yesterday, but this afternoon is much much worse, to the point where today I can barely walk.
The pain subsides to an intermittent dull ache when I'm resting and is better for maybe 10 steps (at the most) if I get up again but comes back quickly. It hurts when walking when I lift my foot to take the next step. It also hurts with any quick movements of the foot, (like for instance I went to kick off my shoe today and was immediately brought to tears by the pain.
It is not tender to touch anywhere, I have had a poke around and can not seem to find a tender area. However, whilst experimenting with where it hurt I rolled my foot onto its side so that the slightest pressure was on the painful area from the floor and that hurt. So the pain is mostly restricted to movement and placing any weight on my right foot. Even when I stand with most of my weight on my left foot it still hurts. It is not swollen that I can see, seems to look exactly like my left foot.
I've had a look through this website and foot and ankle injuries, nothing seems to define what I am experiencing completely. Pain is definately from bottom of my foot (like right where it touches the floor), not on the heel and goes up about a centimetre or two towards the outside of my ankle, but my ankle does not hurt.
Funnily enough I stupidly went for a run this morning (as it felt much much better with proper shoes on) and it didn't hurt at all. It only hurts when I slow to a walk or am standing still. I have not increased my running recently I have run on the road for past 6 months with a few problems but this pain is by far the worst.
Any ideas on what this is and how to treat it would be much appreciated.
Regards,

Rachael

[Heidi]

Hi Rachael

The foot is a very complex area, with so many bones, ligaments, tendons and nerves in the area it is often very hard to diagnose exactly what is causing the pain.
The first thing that came to mind when reading your post was sinus tarsi syndrome. Read more about it here:
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/foot/sinus_tarsi_syndrome.php
However this is not a common condition.
Other options include cuboid syndrome: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/foot/cuboid_syndrome.php
And Peroneal tendon injury, just where it attaches to the 5th metatarsal:
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/ankle/peroneal_tendinitis.php

What I would recommend is that you rest from running (and walking as much as possible) for a couple of weeks. You could also apply ice and try anti-inflammatories. Stretch the calf muscles regularly every day too as these are so often involved in cases of foot and ankle pain.

The reason you don't seem to feel it when you run, may be due to the way you run. Do you run with a heel strike, or mid/fore foot?

[Rach81]

Thanks Heidi for pointing me in the right direction. The only thing I do remember doing is ever so slightly rolling my other ankle, I don't have any pain in that one at all, but maybe I did something as I caught myself from falling down. I'm not sure if I over pronate, but I will get this looked at next time I go back to civilisation. I have always been told that I had a neutral foot, but I'm sure that this is prone to change like everything else. I do suffer from very tight calf muscles, which could be a contributing factor also.
I'm assuming that your last comment is asking which part of my foot I touch the ground with 1st when running and the answer to that is the ball of my foot. I do have a few steep hills during my usual run also.
Pain is marginally better today after staying off of it as much as possible, so will play it by ear for next few days and definately no running for a while. I will start stetching my calf muscles as this seems to be a key component in all 3 issues you reported.
Thanks again for you help