Just did a test walk with my boots/socks. Is this anything to worry about?

[Dringwa]

I'm doing the Camino Frances in July/August. Last weekend I did a 17mi/27km walk with my clothing (no pack) and everything went great except I had two painful spots on my feet at the ball of my foot, just below my big toe. When walking I didn't feel anything, but the pain would come when I start after a break or when walking up stairs. I figured surely it was a blister but two days later I see nothing. Should I be worried or is this normal? I'm wearing waterproof hiking boots (should I have gotten something that breathes more?) and lightweight marino wool socks (and sock liners). Might this be more of an issue of needing to break in the boots a bit more? Or toughening up my feet?
Sorry if this sounds alarmist: it's my first camino and I've been waiting years for the opportunity. I just don't want to be three or four days in and have to call it quits.

 

[Moonbear]

That happened to me a couple of years ago. It felt like some sort of small knot on the bottom of my foot where the toes connect. I don't remember what the doctor called it but said it was caused from friction. Maybe you are walking too fast. I was walking too fast and too often.

 

[Sraaen]

My 2 cents: Smart Wool socks. 2300km last year in 2 pairs of them without a blister. I didn't do any training walks and was a city boy with tender feet. Just saying.

 

[Kanga]

If it is only blisters it is not a problem but if it's the mechanics of your foot it is. I'd go see a podiatrist.
It is a worry that it happened after only a day. Had you been wearing your boots for short periods to break them in?
You are walking the Camino at the hottest time of the year and you definitely don't need boots, let alone Goretex lined ones. Do you have other comfortable shoes, joggers or sandals you can take?

 

[dougfitz]

When walking longer distances, I get a sensation that my socks have creased up underneath the ball of foot. When it first happened, I took my boot off to straighten out my sock, and found nothing wrong. I subsequently learnt that this is not an uncommon sensation for people walking longer distances. In my case, it has always gone away, but I guess that if it persisted, I would see my doctor about that.

There was nothing about what I read about this that indicated that the type of footwear was a problem, nor the type of socks. Its a distance related effect.

Regards,

 

[RicksonTF]

Dringa, I did Camino Frances (SJDP to Santiago) in April/May 2012. I think boots are overkill - as you walk the camino you will see many abandoned boots along the way. About 10 people I know of from my hometown have done this Camino and all of us wore
Salomon XA Pro 3D L Mid 2 GTX Lite-Hiking Shoes (or the equivalent precursor models)
They are light weight and easy to get on and off. I always changed my socks after about 10km. When socks get wet (from weather, puddles or sweat) they rub more and therefore cause blisters. I mostly used a double sock- that is a sock with a built in liner. I also put "Glide" on and between my toes each morning. Take care of your feet and they will take care of you! I never had a blister until I came home and went for a walk without proper preparation! Buen Camino!

 

[obinjatoo]

I agree with boots being overkill. They may be too stiff in the sole which can cause fatigue and sometimes internal bruising of the soft tissue of the feet. People often forget that feet are also muscle, bone, tendons and ligaments. I would experiment with a low top and a softer sole see if anything changes.

 

[susanawee]

I'm doing the Camino Frances in July/August. Last weekend I did a 17mi/27km walk with my clothing (no pack) and everything went great except I had two painful spots on my feet at the ball of my foot, just below my big toe. When walking I didn't feel anything, but the pain would come when I start after a break or when walking up stairs. I figured surely it was a blister but two days later I see nothing. Should I be worried or is this normal? I'm wearing waterproof hiking boots (should I have gotten something that breathes more?) and lightweight marino wool socks (and sock liners). Might this be more of an issue of needing to break in the boots a bit more? Or toughening up my feet?
Sorry if this sounds alarmist: it's my first camino and I've been waiting years for the opportunity. I just don't want to be three or four days in and have to call it quits.

Sounds very much like a 'Mortens Neuroma' - "
Morton's neuroma is a condition that affects one of the nerves between the toes.

It's also known as Morton's metatarsalgia or interdigital neuroma.

In Morton's neuroma, fibrous tissue develops around the nerve, which becomes irritated and compressed. This causes severe pain on the ball of the foot and at the base of the toes." Just saying here.... You may have something different altogether. I have had much the same symptoms and this is what was diagnosed via ultra-sound....

 

[Mark Heard]

Hi all. Just some medical thoughts. Pain at the base of the big toe can be many things but a couple of common issues include arthritis (we see it in early stages even in 30 year olds) & sessamoiditis (inflammation under the pad of the ball of the foot directly behind the big toe). There is medical terminology for all these areas but trying to keep it simple.

However, most likely it's a sign of higher pressures/friction. Again, I want to be careful about diagnosing anything over the internet so I'd suggest if it persists more than a few weeks get advice from a Podiatrist. Simple advice would be shorten stride, increase cushioning in shoes & ice.

It is unlikely to be a Mortons neuroma - they are a pinched, thickened nerve commonly seen in the ball of the foot & tend to create a nervy, burning, pins & needles type pain. Normally this occurs around the 2nd, 3rd, 4th toe area & ball of the foot. Doesn't normally cause issues near the big toe.

 

[Meldelcamino]

Undertaking weekly 'training' walks of 10+kms as well as 5km daily walks, I experience acute 'ball of foot' pain after a 2 hour stint. Currently experimenting with liner/smart wool socks, gel sole inserts, foot comfort padding, New Balance shoes etc. as suggested in numerous posts, the problem persists. It is, I believe, the constant pressure on age-related thinning of the skin and metatarsal wear-and-tear . Removing the shoes to rest the feet for a while eases the pain (on the Caminho, soaking the feet in a cool stream when possible, or in the sea on the 'Portugesa da Costa' route would no doubt also help) and allows another, more comfortable, 2 hour stint. But it is still 'work-in-progress' to attempt a resolution to the discomfort to achieve the 20/25 km per day for 10-12 days required.

 

[Kanga]

Undertaking weekly 'training' walks of 10+kms as well as 5km daily walks, I experience acute 'ball of foot' pain after a 2 hour stint. Currently experimenting with liner/smart wool socks, gel sole inserts, foot comfort padding, New Balance shoes etc. as suggested in numerous posts, the problem persists. It is, I believe, the constant pressure on age-related thinning of the skin and metatarsal wear-and-tear . Removing the shoes to rest the feet for a while eases the pain (on the Caminho, soaking the feet in a cool stream when possible, or in the sea on the 'Portugesa da Costa' route would no doubt also help) and allows another, more comfortable, 2 hour stint. But it is still 'work-in-progress' to attempt a resolution to the discomfort to achieve the 20/25 km per day for 10-12 days required.

Had this problem myself - podiatrist says metatarsal issue - solution for me was a pad under the big toe joint (like a little pillow) which changed how the metatarsals hit the ground.

 

[Meldelcamino]

Had this problem myself - podiatrist says metatarsal issue - solution for me was a pad under the big toe joint (like a little pillow) which changed how the metatarsals hit the ground.

Many thanks for your advice. My situation is that the discomfort/intense burning sensation is across the entire metatarsal area, not just below the big toe. Currently trying Scholl 'Ball of Foot' cushions which seem to help but have yet to trythem on a 15-20 km walk. Like I say, 'work in progress' !

 

[Meldelcamino]

Well, managed my first extended 'training hike' c. 15 miles (24k) today, the distance needed for a 10/11 day completion of the Portugese Coastal Route. All on hard road surface and it went better than expected. The Scholl cushions no doubt helped but, following advice from others on this Forum, removing the NB shoes every 90 minutes or so to ease the metatarsal discomfort was necessary and beneficial. Further walk planned later this week although consecutive days will be the real test. Still, progress !

 

[susanawee]

Undertaking weekly 'training' walks of 10+kms as well as 5km daily walks, I experience acute 'ball of foot' pain after a 2 hour stint. Currently experimenting with liner/smart wool socks, gel sole inserts, foot comfort padding, New Balance shoes etc. as suggested in numerous posts, the problem persists. It is, I believe, the constant pressure on age-related thinning of the skin and metatarsal wear-and-tear . Removing the shoes to rest the feet for a while eases the pain (on the Caminho, soaking the feet in a cool stream when possible, or in the sea on the 'Portugesa da Costa' route would no doubt also help) and allows another, more comfortable, 2 hour stint. But it is still 'work-in-progress' to attempt a resolution to the discomfort to achieve the 20/25 km per day for 10-12 days required.

Suggest, if you have not done so already, that you have a consult with a sports podiatrist as well......I was speaking with one of our West.Aust.Walkers on Sunday and he has, what sounded to be a very similar issue to yourself. He walked the Camino Frances earlier this year and was eventually 'pulled up short' due to the pain in his foot. He has now had it diagnosed correctly and is a lot happier as a result. Camino Smiles to you and good luck with your training.

 

[Meldelcamino]

Suggest, if you have not done so already, that you have a consult with a sports podiatrist as well......I was speaking with one of our West.Aust.Walkers on Sunday and he has, what sounded to be a very similar issue to yourself. He walked the Camino Frances earlier this year and was eventually 'pulled up short' due to the pain in his foot. He has now had it diagnosed correctly and is a lot happier as a result. Camino Smiles to you and good luck with your training.

Many thanks for your advice/suggestion - podiatric consultation sounds a prudent thing to do: am checking out local providers.

 

[ebrandt]

I'm doing the Camino Frances in July/August. Last weekend I did a 17mi/27km walk with my clothing (no pack) and everything went great except I had two painful spots on my feet at the ball of my foot, just below my big toe. When walking I didn't feel anything, but the pain would come when I start after a break or when walking up stairs. I figured surely it was a blister but two days later I see nothing. Should I be worried or is this normal? I'm wearing waterproof hiking boots (should I have gotten something that breathes more?) and lightweight marino wool socks (and sock liners). Might this be more of an issue of needing to break in the boots a bit more? Or toughening up my feet?
Sorry if this sounds alarmist: it's my first camino and I've been waiting years for the opportunity. I just don't want to be three or four days in and have to call it quits.

Lots of people will give lots of advice (me too!) But to me the bottom line is this -- you can't just decide on boots and sock combo after one test walk -- even a long one. You need to wear them repeatedly in different situations. And if you think you are not comfortable get a new pair. Here's my story:

I walked a lot from Sept - Dec (about 7 moles daily to and from work) in a pair of Merrill Moabs and loved them. But I developed a large callous on my big toe and was worried it would become a blister on the Camino. decided to try a new pair of boots and bought a pair of Vasques that had a much larger toe box. The thing I didn't realize is that the Vasques were much stiffer and had less cushion. Two months of wearing the Vasques and my feet were just plain tired all the time. My ankles ached and my knees tweaked. I realized I needed to go back to the Merrills. I did and didn't have a single blister on the Camino.

Regarding socks. Try lots of things. I can't wear smart wool -- the wool bothers me. I use Feetures. These are 100% polyester cool max. They were great. Again experiment.

 

[Meldelcamino]

Lots of people will give lots of advice (me too!) But to me the bottom line is this -- you can't just decide on boots and sock combo after one test walk -- even a long one. You need to wear them repeatedly in different situations. And if you think you are not comfortable get a new pair. Here's my story:

I walked a lot from Sept - Dec (about 7 moles daily to and from work) in a pair of Merrill Moabs and loved them. But I developed a large callous on my big toe and was worried it would become a blister on the Camino. decided to try a new pair of boots and bought a pair of Vasques that had a much larger toe box. The thing I didn't realize is that the Vasques were much stiffer and had less cushion. Two months of wearing the Vasques and my feet were just plain tired all the time. My ankles ached and my knees tweaked. I realized I needed to go back to the Merrills. I did and didn't have a single blister on the Camino.

Regarding socks. Try lots of things. I can't wear smart wool -- the wool bothers me. I use Feetures. These are 100% polyester cool max. They were great. Again experiment.

Many thanks for your input Liz. I have now had quite a few 'training walks', yesterday's being the longest. Regarding socks: I have found that Coolmax liner socks (currently Peter Storm) plus Bridgedale Ultra Light Trekker a good and effective combination: comfortable and 'no blisters'. Because of my planned route (Portugesa 'da Costa') I'm set on 'approach' or 'trail runner' shoe and they need to be 'wide' currently 2E, but 4E may be better and not too many manufacturers do the latter: New Balance is one such Keen another. [I wore my Keen Newport Sandals for a solid week of warm-weather hiking recently but given the weather frequently in Galicia, maybe not the best choice?] Podiatric assessment (see earlier post) should clarify and confirm, and with possible orthotic inserts ease or, hopefully, eliminate the 'ball of foot pain' problem. But, looking at the 'positives' - no blisters even with the 24k hard surface walk yesterday! Thanks again for sharing your footwear experience.

 

[antonia gw]

I'm doing the Camino Frances in July/August. Last weekend I did a 17mi/27km walk with my clothing (no pack) and everything went great except I had two painful spots on my feet at the ball of my foot, just below my big toe. When walking I didn't feel anything, but the pain would come when I start after a break or when walking up stairs. I figured surely it was a blister but two days later I see nothing. Should I be worried or is this normal? I'm wearing waterproof hiking boots (should I have gotten something that breathes more?) and lightweight marino wool socks (and sock liners). Might this be more of an issue of needing to break in the boots a bit more? Or toughening up my feet?
Sorry if this sounds alarmist: it's my first camino and I've been waiting years for the opportunity. I just don't want to be three or four days in and have to call it quits.

Hi I did the Camino Frances in 2014 and suffered terribly with ball of foot pain which got worse and worse as the days and miles went by. When I got home I went to the podiatrist and was told it was Capsulitus and was given orthotics. The orthotics on their own did not solve the problem for distance walking but during planning for walking the Camino Frances again starting in August of this year, one of the many things I bought to try and help with the pain was a silicon disc with a toe loop. This worked wonderfully at relieving the pain and I was able to walk practically the whole way pain free. You simply put the loop over your second toe in the morning and set off. It give me two pain free hours in my boots and then if I changed into my walking sandals with it still in place I could be more or less pain free for the rest of the day. Prior to finding this little item (cost £4.99) I had tried any number of different types of boot, walking sandals etc at great expense with no luck. Also it is worth mentioning that it was only the silicon pad that worked - none of the other pads of a similar design but different material, which I also tried, worked for more than half an hour or so. I hope this might be a solution for you as I know what utter misery constant ball of foot pain can be. I guess it is not a perfect solution if you don't like walking in sandals but I had some Merrell ones which were excellent plus I changed back into my boots if and when the terrain became too much for the sandals - which was pretty rare.

 

[Melensdad]

I am not a doctor and I don't play one on TV. But I have foot issues and I walk so I see a podiatrist more often than most people. See a qualified doctor, but I will offer some thoughts which you can take with a grain of salt and certainly should not be considered qualified medical advice.

... I'm wearing waterproof hiking boots (should I have gotten something that breathes more?) and lightweight marino wool socks (and sock liners). Might this be more of an issue of needing to break in the boots a bit more? Or toughening up my feet?...

Sounds like you and Dougfitz (below) suffer from Metatarsalgia or perhaps Capsulitis. Both are similar. Both are essentially "over use" injuries.

See the full answer below but try walking with a single pair of socks instead of 2 pairs. One of the more common causes is footwear that is too narrow. Double socks can cause problems.

Your foot will NOT toughen up.

You may want to see your podiatrist about special inserts that can relieve the pressure.

You may need to get wider boots/shoes. You may need to get footwear with thicker/more padded soles (think HOKA ONE-ONE or ALTRA) hiking/trail running shoes with their ultra thick padded soles.

You may need to do a combination of the above.

When walking longer distances, I get a sensation that my socks have creased up underneath the ball of foot. When it first happened, I took my boot off to straighten out my sock, and found nothing wrong. I subsequently learnt that this is not an uncommon sensation for people walking longer distances. In my case, it has always gone away, but I guess that if it persisted, I would see my doctor about that....

Doug it sounds like you have Metatarsalgia, and there are some treatments beyond ibuprofen. Your description is pretty classical for Metatarsalgia.

Commonly known as a stone bruise, is a general term used to refer to any painful foot condition affecting the metatarsal region of the foot. This is a common problem that can affect the joints and bones of the metatarsals. Basically a pinched nerve due to inflammation.

It commonly affects runners and people with arthritis. It is also common if your shoes are too tight, which may also result from wearing 2 pairs of socks in shoes that otherwise would be the correct size.

Anti-Inflammatories temporarily reduce the pain. Rest can heal the injury, but it can take a long time to make it go away. There are other treatments including orthotics and sometimes surgery.

On the Camino mine started acting up after about 10 days. It was gone by morning with the aid of ibuprofen. By the end of the Camino it was a 24/7 pain. Its been 2 months and a few days since I've been home and it still occasionally bothers me despite the fact that I'm walking very little now as I'm trying to let it heal.

 

[dougfitz]

@Melensdad, thank you for your concern. I suspect that I was suffering from Morton's Neuroma, one of the underlying conditions that result in metatarsalgia. At the time I was wearing boots that were slightly too small for the amount of lengthening and spreading my feet were undergoing during the course of a long walking day. I suspect that this would have resulted in compression of the tissue around the nerves in my forefoot which is the cause of Morton's Neuroma. These boots have subsequently been replaced with successively bigger boots, and I no longer suffer from this problem. I can only suggest that boots were part of the problem, as I have changed many other things over the time since my first camino.

 

[JuanitaOnTheRoad]

Dear All, I am going to begin training (with pack, etc.) once New Orleans cools down, but just to share what the kids at REI in Berkeley, CA (who had walked the camino) told me: boots are overkill, use something like the Salomon x-ultra walking shoes AND PLAN TO WALK AS FAR IN THE SHOES before the camino as you plan to walk on the camino. I will be going 11 months from now...
Buen camino

 

[dougfitz]

Dear All, I am going to begin training (with pack, etc.) once New Orleans cools down, but just to share what the kids at REI in Berkeley, CA (who had walked the camino) told me: boots are overkill, use something like the Salomon x-ultra walking shoes AND PLAN TO WALK AS FAR IN THE SHOES before the camino as you plan to walk on the camino. I will be going 11 months from now...
Buen camino

@JuanitaOnTheRoad, the shoes vs boots debate is one that has been going on as long as I have been a member of this forum, and I assume will keep going. There are some really memorable threads on this theme, and forum members do not have a consistent view on whether boots or shoes are better. While it is nice to know that 'some kids from REI' have a view on this, this forum has a bunch of adults who you might find are equally opinionated having walked the camino themselves.

 

[Michael Caleigh]

Good to read that I am not the only one suffering from this.
My podiatrist made me amazing insoles and now I can walk like I want to.
Feel a bit like RoboCop with my so called biomechanics....(why can´t they just call it insolves for long distance walkers)....