Foot pain upon first standing
by John
(Ohio)
After sitting for a while (short period or long period of time) when I stand I have terrible pain in both feet. I walk slowly for 5-10 steps and the pain goes down to not too bad. I had the problem prior to the first of this month. At the first of this month I started walking for 30 min. in the morning and 30 min at night on my treadmill. I can walk OK without foot pain. I have the pain whether I have shows on or not.
ANSWERHi John,
I wish I knew how old you are and a few other things about your medical history, but suffice it to say that most people who experience pain on initial ambulation, only to find the pain ease up after a few steps, generally are suffering from early arthritis.
This is known as morning stiffness, although I do understand this will happen any time during the day in your case.
As we age and the joints start to narrow, they do not function as normal as they once did. So when you first start to walk the joints are a little stiff and you get some discomfort. Once you get going and joints of the foot go through their range of motion, they start to move more smoothly and the pain diminishes.
I suppose the argument could be made that the more you exercise the worse this condition could get. But there is a paradox here. Those who do not exercise find that their joints, through out the body will begin to stiffen up from lack of use.
So, even though you have the symptoms that you have, I would not suggest giving up exercising and just accept the fact that you have this issue and if it only lasts for a few seconds, it just becomes another one of those aches and pains we learn to live with.
As a side note, make sure your athletic shoes are in good condition, not worn out and give you adequate support as a worn out shoe will exacerbate the problem.
Marc Mitnick DPM
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