Painful inside arch but no heel pain

Hi all,

I'm a (very) newbie runner working thorugh my couch to 5k programme - on week 8 I was out for a run and came back with some foot arch pain.  Rested it for a few days, but then had a 5k Race for Life scheduled and had raised loads of sponsorship, so went ahead with it.  Hindsight tells me that I should have walked the course, but I ran, with my arch strapped up (to be honest, it didn't hurt too much at the time!)

Next day I could hardly put my foot on the floor due to the pain on the inside of the arch of my foot (towards the back of the arch but with no heel, toe or sole of foot pain).  Its been gradually getting better (is better in heels, but more tender in heels with extra arch support) and is now more of an occasional twinge than a pain.  This weekend will be 2 weeks since race for life, and I'm desperate to get back to running!

I don't think (from the other posts I've read) that this is plantar fascitis as it doesn't have any heel / toe / anything else pain attached, but that's just speculation obviously.  Is this weekend too soon to do a little "tester" run and see how it goes?  Should I be waiting until I can feel no ache, twinge, pain or anything at all?

All advice gratefully received!

Karen

Sometimes under foot pain can be connected to calf problems, as the smaller calf muscles attach with tendons that go under the foot. See if calf massage and stretching helps?

Try rolling a tennis ball or golf ball around under your foot and see if you can find any tight or tender spots. Rolling over them like this is a great way to ease off any tight muscles. Agree with MM about possible calf problems especially as you say the pain is better when you wear high heels, which does the opposite of stretching your calf muscles...