The one and only effective way to alleviate foot pain is simply to avoid it from happening. According to experts, in achieving this goal one should carefully choose the right type of exercise program to apply. It should be something that your current body and state can endure and it should at least level your experience in exercising. Furthermore it is best to buy a new pair of shoes every year or twice in a year to avoid problems that is caused by poorly fitted shoes.
Determining the Factors that Causes Foot Pain
If you haven’t felt such pain or condition with your foot before and you have no idea how you got it, it’s best to see a doctor immediately. You should not ignore acute foot pain because they are probably signs that you have a serious condition like nerve damage, high blood or heart disease. Of course it all depends on the type of pain you are experiencing. Here are some tests to diagnose the cause of the foot pain:
Physical examination- this is done by the physician where he/she conducts physical testing and examination. He or she may also manipulate the movement of the foot to see if there are other sources of the injury or pain. The physician may also ask you take a few steps to see how or where the pain occurs.
Testing the Nerve – this is done when there’s an injury on our foot since most foot related injuries are directly related to the nerves.
X-ray test- Depending on the case the physician may require to X-ray, bone scan, or MRIs your feet.
Treating options
According to experts, any foot pain warrants immediate attention. Such attention, however, need not be medical-at least in the beginning. Indeed, there are a number of self-treatment options for chronic pain.
Although physicians believed that it is essential to treat such problems immediately, there are self-treatment alternatives that you can do in order to assess the problem at hand.
Experts would advise you to do the following at the first signs of the problem:
- Position your feet in a way that it can rest so that self-healing will start immediately.
- If swelling takes apply cold compress for about 10-15 minutes and do this in intervals. Also, do not apply the ice cubes directly. Use a towel or a cloth to cover or a plastic.
- Position the affected area on an elevated position. This will help reduce the swelling.
- If you can seek for help, ask someone to prepare you an over-the-counter medication and have a dose of it. This will alleviate the pain and swelling. Ibuprofen and Aspirin are both effective for this and you can also take Tylenol or acetaminophens if available.
If all of these self-treatment methods do not work for you, then you should immediately see a doctor for professional help.