Foot and Ankle Pain

Instep and ankle of foot experience throbbing, chronic pain, toes hurting too at times. At times same foot experiences arch pain like plantar facititis symptoms

but not as pronounced as was on other foot awhile ago. No redness or swelling of concered areas.

This nasty condition came about climbing up and down a ladder while engaged in a wall painting job. Got off ladder and couldnt wiggle foot up or down without lots of pain, could only limp walk.

THKS
Al

RESPONSE

Hi Al,

Don't know how much help I am going to be here as you pretty much figured out the problem for yourself.
Yes, climbing a ladder especially if you are doing it quite a bit, can lead to foot and ankle pain. This problem would then be exacerbated if a couple of other issues come into play.
The first would be the shoes that you were wearing. If for example, you were wearing flimsy sneakers that did not really protect your feet then the foot pressed against the rung of the ladder could cause pain to occur in both the foot and ankle.
I have no idea how much you weigh, but if you are a big guy, or just overweight, that too would be a factor in why your foot and ankle began to hurt.
Lastly, if you were doing a lot of leaning to one side or the other, than that too would create abnormal pressure on the foot and also the ankle and could lead to pain.
Ok, so what are you going to do about this? Even though you did not fall or trip, you have basically injured your ankle and foot in the manner as if you had fallen.
Since I do not have the luxury of actually examining you, I have to make a couple of assumptions. The first is that you did not break any bones, in particular your metatarsal bones. If you had been wearing a very non-supportive shoe and the rungs of the ladder were narrow enough, you easily could have suffered a stress fracture in one of the metatarsal bones. You won't know without an x-ray and if the pain in your foot does not respond quickly, you might consider a visit to a foot specialist in your area.
So, assuming no break for now, you should do what you would do for any other injury. It is what is known as R.I.C.E. which is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.
In addition to this I would recommend you try an anti-inflammatory medication like Aleve, Advil, or Motrin and that is with the stipulation that you can tolerate this class of medication. I would take the medication in the dose recommended on the bottle or box, do not exceed the dose, and take it for at least seven days in an effort to maintain blood levels of the medication to see if that relieves your pain or at the very least substantially reduces your pain.
If the regimen of R.I.C.E. along with anti-inflammatory medication does not relieve your pain, then as I mentioned earlier, you should seek medical attention to rule out more serious problems.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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