Lump on bottom of right foot.
by Marie
(New York City)
I was walking around four miles one day when I twisted my right ankle and saw stars. I think the bottom side of the foot turned in or under and I stepped on it. This use to happen all the time. Now I have a lump there. I went to, two different foot doctors and they did nothing for me. I still have the lump two years later. I need help because if I walk bare foot it hurts and if I bang it it hurts. Any suggestions. One doctor said he could do nothing for me. Imagine that. I wear foot inserts or orthodicts and it feels like a lump is in my shoe. It is pretty big.
Any suggestions or thoughts.
RESPONSEHi Marie,
Usually when people suffer inversion sprains, (the foot twists inward and you land kind of on the side of the foot) they do not end up with lumps on the bottom of the foot.
The only thing I can think of is that you may have torn something on the bottom of the foot and the associated swelling has caused the lump.
In most cases of trauma the problem would have resolved itself a long time ago, but apparently you are still greatly bothered by this lump.
Part of the problem may be the fact that in order to walk, you have to keep putting pressure on this lump, so it has never had the opportunity to get better.
I would think that any lump than cannot be accounted for, at the very least should warrant an MRI. Since the lump is probably soft tissue and does not involve the bone, then an MRI would tell us what, if anything, this lump is.
I would like to think that any doctor you would go to at this point would think along the same lines.
If you do see another doctor insist on some kind of imaging procedure, MRI or ultrasound, to see if the lump can be identified. Without a proper diagnosis it will be impossible to offer sound relief to you.
Some of the potential problems that come to mind would include a torn muscle or even herniation of a muscle belly. Additionally a torn ligament or herniation of a tendon might also cause this kind of lump. You may have already had an inherent weakness in the structure of your foot, as you say you have had these kinds of injuries before, so perhaps this last sprain actually tore a structure in your foot. That's the best I can do without the luxury of actually examining you.
Marc Mitnick DPM
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