Extensor tendonitis March 13, 2007
Posted by RegiVizz in Injury, Running, Shoes.trackback
The 25K went well, but I think I may have laced my left shoe too tightly. The result: extensor tendonitis? Maybe? I’m keeping ice on my foot all day, so we’ll see if that helps.
Yesterday after work, I changed into my running clothes and laced up my shoes…or tried to lace up my shoes. With a not-so-dull pain on the top of my foot, I knew I wouldn’t be running far. First though, I stopped at The Runner to see what they thought. All prepared to buy some new shoes, they sent me away with nothing! Instead he told me to try and run (I did 2 miles) to see if that would help. He also said to ice it and take some ibuprofen, so that I did (and am doing).
No run today, no run tomorrow and I’ll try a short run on Thursday. Maybe the tongue of my shoe is too thin? Seems like it might be much thinner than when I bought them.
I’ve got about 250 miles on these, so maybe it’s time to start breaking in a new pair? I think I may stop and buy some this afternoon…I mean…if I’m not running, I’ve got nothing better to do right? 
I had major issues with the outside of my right foot when I first started running. Mine was actually because I wasn’t tying my shoes up good enough, and my heel was bouncing around. It took about a month to finally go away. I also made sure to be really careful how I ran on it.
Granted yours is a bit different pain, maybe you should get it checked out also to make sure it’s not something major.
Interesting… I did a 7.5 mile run today… and right out of the gate, the top of my left foot felt a little funny… I was thinking (hmmm… it almost feel like my shoe laces are different between my two feet)… Me being the macho Ironman that I am, I just kept running.
But the truth is, I am a running newbie… and so I just never realized that shoe lace tightness could cause an injury.
Tell me more!
I that when you feel the pain to SMILE, it will convince yourself that it hurts less… no wait, that’s for fatigue !!
Seriously, I think I suffer from the same problem. I solved it though by simply wearing shoes a half size larger than usual, loosening them up, and slapping around in them as my foot strikes the ground. It sounds worse than it is and I got used to the loose feel relatively quickly. It actually allows the foot to expand naturally as it strikes the surface, without undue restriction.
I really really think I laced my shoe too tightly for the 25K. Looking up extensor tendonitis online, I found several places that says it can cause your tendon to become inflamed, causing pain on top of the foot, mid-foot. I kept ice on it all day yesterday and will do the same today. We’ll see how the run goes on Saturday…staying off of it and focusing on cross-training until then!
I would check the laces. Maybe your feet are a little swollen. I sometimes feel like I need to make adjustments, especially if I am on my feet for several hours.
For the first time ever i’ve been having achiness in my feet too – but i’m positive it’s because the road I run on is very uneven and it’s hard on my poor footsies. Good luck,hope you’re able to heal quickly!
I’ve also heard of people who have two sets of shoes, one for super long runs, and one for shorter…where the long ones are a half size larger…
I had a similar injury twice, except mine occurred in both feet when I ran too fast during a race, or ran a very hilly course when I had been training on flat ground. It takes a couple of weeks to get over it, and what I found was that barely lacing my shoes so that it almost felt like they were going to come off was the only thing that worked.
On a side note, I wanted to thank you again for linking to our running Blog Database on the main Faithful Soles web site, which has now grown to bloggers from 38 states in the USA and 21 other countries.
Hi, I just figured out that I have this extensor tendinitis and was wondering how long ot took you to recupperate? I bought new shoes a week ago today and the laces were too tight. I ran 5 miles that day and now my foot is killing me and I haven’t been able to rin since. I’ve been icing it and taking ibuprofen but really miss running:(
Kathy: I laid off for about a week and a half, taking several days of icing my foot. Now I can do okay running, but if I lace my shoes too tightly, my foot lets me know really quickly! I suppose that means it isn’t fully healed yet, but well enough so that I can run on it. I’ll let it fully recover after my marathon on April 29th.
Good luck with your marathon! I’m training for a half marathon and am anxious to get back running but I think I will lay low until next week and see what happens. Happy Trails!
Sounds like you might have extensor tendinitis – it is from overuse and runs along the top of your foot. It almost feels like a bruise and can come and go but at times is difficult to walk. Rest is the one thing that will help, use of cold packs and anti inflammatories. Then I would suggest new shoes with plenty of stability and possibly orthodics. I can literally tell the minute my shoes start to run out of steam as the top of my left foot starts hurting again. The orthodics are expensive and most insurance companies do NOT pay for them. The podiatrist can also give you a shot (hurts like hell) right into the swollen tendon at the top of your foot of cortisone. That will take the edge off while you take your rest from running and the orthodics are being made. May sound like a lot however if you don’t fully address the problem your foot will never get better and give you problems for the rest of your running life – yikes! Good luck!!!
got this and licked it fairly quickly with two daily DMSO treatmenti
Ibuprofin, rest, and loosly tying my shoes. Three days later I’m rrunning pain free again. Good luck!
where do you get DMSO treatment from ??
I have had tentonitus in my 3rd, 4th and little toe which runs up to the top of my foot – i cant wear shoes and its been like this for a week.
Ive iced them and massage my Plantar Facia but they still hurt and i reall ywant to get back to running
Any ideas?>?
I also had pain in these extensors and went to the physio who correctly identified that the cause of this was actually the muscle down the front of the shin, which I hadn’t even noticed was rock solid and slightly strained from overuse. This was pulling on the extensor causing the pain. He loosened up the muscle through a rather painful massage and suggested I wear flight socks during exercise to keep a good blood supply to the muscle and to ice the muscle (not the tendon) regularly. (10 mins every hour) I also loosened up my shoelaces which helped.
I have had similar kind of pain recently, hurts when I bend my foot acroos the joint on the inside between the ankle foot. The sharp pain is due to two things, excessive pronation and wearing laces too tight. Solutions are more stable shoes, and straight bar lacing technique ( no criss cross overlaps as they create pressure points on the nerves and tendons). Final tip, do not lace up to the top, leave the last couple of eyelets, makes a massive difference.
This blog has been extremely helpful to me in that I am an aging but very active tennis player. Got fabulous orthotics a year ago which completely eliminated the pain from five knee surgeries. Wow.
But the orthotics required size 11 1/2 shoes 4E and I found that I had to tighten the laces excessively to keep from running around inside my shoes. As the Brooks Addiction Walker II deteriorated, I got even less support and tightened the laces even more.
Now I see that I most likely have extensor tendinities. That I need to massage my shins, that I need to not lace so tightly, need to get new shoes as necessary, which I just did, and then all of the other inflammatory and conservative management treatments.
Probably will tape the top of my foot and use something to reduce the constriction.
I think that it is not a stress fracture because I can find trigger points in the tendon. But I’ll check that out too.
just finished a half and 9 mi in started to feel the pain. Ice, rest and putting a little padding under the toes/ball of teh foot dramatically reduced teh pain to barely able to walk to almost no pain. Next on teh list is slightly larger shoes and really watching the laces
just finished a half and 9 mi in started to feel the pain. Ice, rest and putting a little padding under the toes/ball of the foot dramatically reduced the pain to barely able to walk to almost no pain. Next on the list is slightly larger shoes and really watching the laces
just a random question. Does anyone experiencing this problem have one leg shorter then the other? I do and I think that seems to be the problem….
Well, I am slightly better off than last fall of 2008 but must now wear a splint at night to prevent extraordinary pain in my extensor tendinitis of the left toe.
It is clear that I have done such damage that I must get a cortisone shot which I have scheduled for early April. Also stretching, strengthening and massaging together with no tight shoe laces.
BTW, I had one leg shorter and the orthotics fixed that but I don’t think it had anything to do with my extensor tendinitis but it sure helped back and sciatic nerve pain.
While I can play tennis without much pain, I can’t sleep without a splint. This is actually pretty serious stuff.
I was misdiagnosed with a stress fracture by my podiatrist 3 years ago after increasing my running distance too quickly. I wore an aircast boot for 2 months along with ibuprofen, and an icing regimen. After the cast came off, the issue was just a bad and a new orthopedic surgeon diagnosed me with extensor tendonitis.
I did 2 months of physical therapy 3x per week and that did help to stretch tight muscles and retrain my body to take the stress off of my foot. I did end up getting 2 cortisone shots into the tendon area at the top of my right foot…ouch. Three years later the tendons will still swell and bruise if I overuse them and or lace up too tight.
My dr. said it would have been alot easier if I would have just broken my foot – it heals up faster.
So – take it seriously – baby those feet when you need to!
Thank you al who have provided great information on this forum.
I suffer from what I just learned to be extensor tendonitis, with a half marathon nine days from now.
Again, thanks for all of the great information.
I think this may be my problem as well, although I have no pain in the top of my foot. Instead, my pain is localized above the fibrous band I think is called the Extensor Retinaculum??
I had a huge knot there between the bones, which Naproxen and regular icing have reduced. However, I still have what I can only describe as squeaking muscles around the site of the swelling when I flex my foot up and down.
Anyone else noticed this weird squeaking? Its not so much a noise as a feeling, so grating might be more appropriate…
Yes David I went walking 8 kl quick pace and after approx 6 kl got toes numbing kept walking. now i have same feeling in lower shin grating when i flex my foot . Any body have any idea how to fix this problem? Weight training I find hard when having to use my foot sometimes
I’m not sure that orthodics help extensor tendinitis. Actually, I’ve seen that extensor tendinitis is more associated with supination than pronation. Mechanically, this does make a lot of sense.
I am dealing with extensor tendinitis right now (as far as a self-diagnosis goes). I got this on the first hard track workout (intervals) after putting arch supports in a new pair of shoes. I think the supports changed the mechanics of my foot strike. Namely, the arch supports are putting me more on the outside of the foot (towards where supination occurs) than normal. My foot wasn’t used to that.
Oh, I put in the arch supports after having a bout with shin splints. I probably overcorrected for my low arch with the arch supports when a new pair of shoes would have been an ample solution. My old shoes had over 300 miles. Oh, the part of the foot that hurts is pretty much directly above the front edge of the arch support.
My new idea for dealing with running related injuries is not to try too many corrections simultaneously.
I think maybe I caught a bad pair of the new shoes. I looked at them from the back and saw one (on the injured side) was canted to the outside a few degrees. Actually, a doctor pointed that out. So it was probably the shoes and not the supports that was putting me on more than normal on the outside of the foot.
I did see a podiatrist. The foot lack of arch and the shoe combined with the distances and speed that I ran served to cause swelling and irritate a nerve in the foot. I didn’t have a neuroma. I didn’t have a stress fracture.
I spend a lot of time elevating the foot. I did Epson salt soaks. I did anti-inflammatories. The swelling is nearly gone. I’m back to running with different orthodics, a modest two miles to start. The jury is out on whether or not my feet will like them. The pain that characterized the injury is gone. Right now, the tendons on the toes 4 and 5 give me noticable discomfort on running. That could be from some of the remnant swelling. Perhaps, my foot is just getting back to normal and sensitive tendons are part of the continuum. I know when the foot was injured my body felt like it was doing all kinds of compensation from the thigh down to the toes.
Oh, I returned the newer shoes and the newer version of the shoes that I ran 300+ miles in without foot problems.
Very informative!
David- I have noticed the squeaking you speak of. It is as if the top of my foot is creaking instead of the regular smooth movement. I ran 16 miles after I noticed the pain and luckily a couple days later it is going away. The most helpful thing has been to massage my legs. I got into the habit of coming home after a long run and not taking the time to rub down. My body is letting me know that it needs some attention. I’m glad I caught it and I’m glad others have taken the time to post about their experience.
Run on!
-Shaun
Joseph- How did your half marathon go? I am scheduled for a half marathon 13 days from now and have been dealing with extensor tendonitis for the last week. I know I should have listened to my body earlier and realize now that I became too much of a slave to my training schedule. Now I’m not leaving myself much time for rest. How much rest do you all recommend from your experiences? I’ve read everything from a few days to 6-8 weeks..Thank you.
-Bill