Metatarsalgia

 

What is metatarsalgia?

 

Pain in the forefoot under the head of the metatarsal bones @ inflammation 

occur under your ball of the foot. (Figure 1)

The forces applied to the forefoot can overuse metatarsalgia of varying severity.

 

Benphysio does provide this service in all our outlets in

Oval Damansara, Bangsar, Puchong, KL Ampang, Cheras and Giza KD.

We specialized in hands-on physiotherapy to treat the problem.

 

How does it occur?

 

Stance phase accounts for 60% of the gait cycle.  During the toe-off phase of gait, 

account for 30% of the gait cycle. Only the forefoot of the metatarsal head and

toes are in contact with the ground. Therefore, most of the pressure is 

concentrated in this area. 

 

It can be caused by forefoot plantar compression due to imbalance

loading of the foot e.g. by wearing of high -heeled shoes, wearing of shoes 

with poor padding, flatfoot, hallux valgus, obesity. 

Another one is associated with metabolic, neurological, post-surgical 

@traumatic events. 

 

Biomechanical factors

 

The pain can be across the plantar forefoot, including the 2^nd to 4^th metatarsal heads. 

However, the most common seen were 2^nd toes affected.

The foot is grounded on the plantar side of the 2^nd MTP(metatarsal phalangeal)

joint, where the transverse arch collapses and the metatarsal are overloaded. 

During walking, the load increases by approximately 2x of the body weight. 

When the toes lose the ability to functionally push off the ground, the loading stress 

are concentrated on the metatarsal area. Eventually, metatarsalgia is resulted caused 

by repetitive overloading. 

 

If the foot is grounded on the lateral side, it may put more stress on 

the 4^th and 5^th MTP joints. 

 

(Amaha, 2021)

 

Characteristics

 

• Sharp pain/ aching pain/ burning sensation on the forefoot region.  
• Exacerbated by walking, activity or footwear. 
• Swelling

 

Conservative treatment or surgery?

 

X-ray is suggested to determine whether there’s presence of structural deformity like hallux valgus, etc.  

It is also advised to go with conservative treatment, e.g. physiotherapy or footwear changing. In physiotherapy, they play a significant role in dealing with your problems. They’ll assess your ankle joint movement, hindfoot,  posture, gait,etc. to find out the problem and prescribe the individualized treatment to you. Non-surgical management is usually sufficient 
 

Again, we at Benphysio do provide this service in all our outlets in Oval Damansara, Bangsar, Puchong, KL Ampang, Cheras and Giza KD. We specialized in hands-on physiotherapy to treat the problem. Feel free to call us to make an appointment to get your problem diagnosed by our physiotherapists and fixed via hands on physiotherapy. We are available at Oval Damansara, Bangsar, Puchong, KL Ampang, Cheras and Giza KD.

 

Reference 
 

Maguire, S. (2008). Metatarsalgia. Essentials of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 461–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-4160-4007-1.50086-9  

Amaha, K. (2021, April 30). Conservative treatment for primary metatarsalgia. https://www.orthojournal.org/articles/conservative-treatment-for-primary-metatarsalgia.html