Your lower spine produces a number of spinal nerves, which exit in your feet after traveling down your legs. These spinal nerves’ nerve roots, which are the portion of the nerve that leaves the spine, can become inflamed or compressed, resulting in foot pain. If a nerve is squeezed near your hip, knee, or foot, foot discomfort may also result.
Video on the causes and signs of sciatica picture of the skeleton’s posterior region showing pain extending down the left leg.
A sharp pain in the leg frequently coexists with sciatic nerve pain in the foot. Video on the causes and signs of sciatica.
This blog offers a list of typical foot pain reasons as well as practical advice to assist you in identifying the source of your foot discomfort, a spinal condition that causes foot pain
Sciatica pain can go down your leg and into your foot if a nerve root is irritated or compressed in the lumbar or sacral spine (lower back).
1. Specifically, discomfort along the outside of your foot may be brought on by compression of the S1 nerve root, often known as typical sciatica.
2. Numerous factors might result in the compression or irritation of nerve roots. Typical illustrations include
3. Intervertebral disc herniation in the lower back: Internal disc material oozing out
Disc degeneration in the lumbar spine: Age-related modifications that cause the disc to narrow and shrink Spondylolisthes is a vertebra slipping over the one below it
Lumbar spinal stenosis Narrowing of the spinal nerves’ bony apertures or the spinal
cord
Foot drop is a disorder that might cause difficulty lifting the front of your foot or frequent tripping when walking. The L5 nerve root being compressed is the usual cause of this disease. Rarely, foot drop may also be brought on by compression of the L4 and/or S1 nerve roots.
4. See Steppage Gait, Foot Drop Symptoms, and Other Warning Signs.
Compression of nerves in the hip, knee, or leg can result in foot pain.
Additionally, foot discomfort can result from the compression or harm of nerves as they go through the hip, knee, or leg. For instance:
When you try to move your foot, you could have foot pain and foot drop due to peroneal neuropathy, a condition when the peroneal nerve is pinched or injured close to the knee.
5. Foot pain at the top of your foot accompanied with some degree of weakness may be a symptom of sciatic neuropathy or injury to the sciatic nerve in the pelvic region (hip).
6. A sharp, shooting pain in your ankle region and along the sole of your foot may be a symptom of tarsal tunnel syndrome or malfunction of the tibial nerve within the tarsal tunnel of the inner ankle.
7. Entrapment of the sural nerve, which can occur in the thigh or close to the ankle, frequently results in a shooting pain along the outside of the ankle and/or foot.
8. A corn could also form on the skin near your toes. Overly friction-induced corns develop over time and can compress surrounding nerves, resulting in discomfort and other symptoms. Morton’s neuroma, a thickening of the tissue surrounding a nerve in the foot, is an additional potential source of nerve discomfort in your foot.
Learn more about the causes of foot and leg pain.
How to determine what is causing your foot discomfort.
It may be challenging to identify the source of nerve pain in the foot given the variety of potential reasons.
Following a recent injury to the lower back, hip, knee, or ankle, foot pain may assist identify the location of nerve damage.
It usually only affects one leg at a time, although foot pain from sciatica or nerve root compression may also be accompanied by other symptoms like pain, numbness, and/or weakness in the buttock, thigh, and leg.
Foot pain from tight boots or shoes could be an indication of peroneal or sural nerve compression close to the knee or ankle.
After a hip injection or surgery, foot pain that develops could be a sign of sciatic neuropathy.
Another cause of nerve pain in the foot is injury to the nerves from systemic diseases like diabetes or multiple sclerosis.
Foot discomfort can result from injuries to the bones in the foot, the ankle joint, blood vessels, muscles, and/or tendons, as well as from twisting, bending, or taking a direct blow to the foot or ankle.
Make an appointment to see your doctor.
To correctly identify the source of your foot pain, make an appointment with your doctor. Treatments for foot pain can take many different forms and should focus on finding the root of the problem rather than just treating the symptoms. For instance, whereas a corn on your toe can frequently be treated with specific shoes and warm water, a lumbar herniated disc may require heat therapy and exercise.
Tags: spine pain, foot pain, foot pain causes, spine pain causes, spine treatment, foot pain treatment
