In-Grown toenails occur for a variety of reasons. Some due to the nail breaking the skin and giving that red, painful and often pussy presentation. Some feel very uncomfortable all the time. Some are funny shapes and some due to a fungal infection deep to the skin next to the nail.

Forefoot pain is probably what you are experiencing. That or the sensation of a pebble under the ball of your foot.

Fortunately, all of these conditions are manageable/treatable. The reason can result from either mechanical features or internal changes at the foot itself.

These are the oft referred to ‘unsightly’ growth at the base of your big toe.

Commonly, we see these present on women more than men, but can still occur to both sexes. These be exacerbated for a number of reasons, commonly: poor footwear choices, family history, 3 or more children or arthropathies.

These can sometimes present with or be linked to bunions (link) but not at all times. These are often a little trickier to manage and can co-exist with callouses at the end of the digits, wounds at the digitis, rubbing against the top of shoes, pain underneath the forefoot or ball of the foot.

Imagine breaking a bone, but slowly over time. That is essentially what a stress fracture is. It can be preceded by bone bruising (oedema). Commonly, people will notice swelling at the foot, pain which gets worse the more you are on it, sometimes pain at rest and it eventually becomes limiting to your activities.

Big toe joint arthritis is VERY common. However, pain with it shouldn’t be. Second to that is the knee, then the midfoot. And your foot is involved in all of them!

Fortunately, recent research around the knee suggests that staying active is very important. Also, there may be some strategies at the foot to help knee arthritis pain.

Commonly practitioners may call this heel spurs or plantar fasciitis. Technically, that is a diagnosis that implies a bone deformity or inflammation is the cause of the condition. If either of these were true, then fixing it would be much easier than what you have been provided. In fact the list of possibilities at the heel for your pain includes, tendons, muscles, fat pads, bone, nerves and the list goes on.

Shin pain can be due to an overuse injury. You will feel pain at the front of the shin or towards the middle of the shin. The exact causes (from research) is still not clear (as for most conditions) but there has been some good quality research to show that muscles at the foot and that act on the foot are often involved. Therefore, if you have shin pain the podiatrist is a good person to see either as the primary person or as part of your health-care team looking after your shins.