Metatarsalgia affects people in the athletic and dance fields.
Athletes, sportsmen and dancers, get unusual pressure on the ball of the foot, because of the high impact nature of their activity.
The name is not indicative either of the disease or the diagnosis.
It is the name of the symptom.
This disorder affects the joints and bones at the ball of the foot.
The name itself means pain in the ball of the foot.
It may be near the big toe or in the next three toes also.
It was a surprising revelation that when people with pain in the front part of the foot was examined, different diagnosis were made, all of them has metatarsalgia.
All were grouped under three sections, primary and secondary and also pain under the front part of the foot.
As the name indicates, the pain occurs between the arch of the foot and the toes.
The terminology is medical, derived from the word metatarsals, meaning the part of the foot between the ankle and toes.
Because the sole is affected, a person with metatarsalgia feels that normal walking is like walking on pebbles.
Other symptoms are slight pain and burning sensation.
Different people are affected in different ways.
Only one or two toes affected in some people whereas in some others in all the parts in both the feet may be affected.
The entire sole is painful, the intensity varying from person to person.
The usual cause for all foot problems, namely wrong shoes especially goes with very high heels is applicable to metatarsalgia also.
Barefoot activities, deformities in the toe and other foot ailments, and also diseases like gout are all contributing factors.
Obesity is another factor.
Frequent injuries to feet, deficiency in blood supply to feet, are other causes.
Neurological problems also tend to create this problem.
Apart from the pain factor etc and the slight pain experienced by many people, there are also cases where there is sharp and shooting pain in the toes and loss of feeling in the toes.
A swelling may appear.
The pain may increase while walking on a hard surface especially barefoot.
Treatment varies according to the intensity level of the attack.
Drugs are prescribed if a physician is approached for treatment of metatarsalgia The physician takes care that the drugs he prescribes help reduce the inflammation but are not steroids.
Applying an ice pack, a cold compress or any method of applying cold to the affected part is prescribed.
This should be done a number of times during the first 24 hours of starting the treatment.
Inflammation may be reduced and considerable relief from pain got by this treatment.
As in the case of many such disorders, complete rest is prescribed to patients of metatarsalgia to reduce the workload on the foot.
Physiotherapy and other forms of treatment for application externally are also attempted.
They are so varied that, at least one of them should produce the desired effect.
Ultra sound electrical stimulation is tried.
For persistent inflammation corticosteroid injection may be done for metatarsalgia patient.