When only one foot hurts, but it started on the other side

What follows combines several patients' visits into one composite story. It is not about any one person, and anything that could identify someone has been removed.

How do patients usually come to us?

Patients tell us their foot hurts as if it's tearing when they take their first step getting out of bed in the morning. It eases a little after walking, but gets worse as time goes on.

Often the sole and the area just above the heel hurt together. What's distinctive here is that it's only on one side.

Why does only one side hurt?

In many cases, the person has been favoring the other side for a long time. After injuring a knee or ankle, or having surgery, the body naturally starts putting more weight on the opposite side.

After a few years of that, the arch on the overused side sinks first. The painful side is the result; it started on the other side.

That's why looking only at the painful foot doesn't explain how it got this way.

What do we look at?

We have you walk. We check whether your stride differs between left and right, and whether weight stays on one side for longer.

We also compare the pressure on the soles of both feet side by side. If one side shows up much darker, that's where the weight has been shifting.

We look at where the calluses are. A callus under a particular toe at the front means weight has been concentrating there.

We also consider body weight. The feet carry the body's full weight, so even with the same arch, how much they can bear depends on the load.

How do we treat it?

We don't support only the painful side. We look at both sides together and make custom insoles so that weight is spread out again.

For the painful spot, we treat inflammation with acupuncture and pharmacopuncture (herbal acupuncture). Your first steps in the morning need to become bearable before walking can really begin.

If body weight is adding to the strain, we talk about that too. Reducing the load on the feet works in the same direction as the correction.

How did things go?

First, the first steps in the morning become bearable. Stride evening out between left and right, and pressure spreading evenly, come more slowly.

When the feet feel better, many people walk more, and as they walk more, their knees and weight often improve along with it. From here, things start helping each other.

What are the limits of this approach?

We don't tell you that an area under pressure for years will go back to how it was. This is about changing how weight is spread to ease the strain.

If your heel hurts even at night, if it's swollen and warm, or if the pain started suddenly after an injury, imaging tests come first.

To people with the same symptoms

1. Pain that's worst with the first step in the morning is a common pattern.
2. If only one side hurts, we check whether you've been favoring the other side for a long time.
3. Sometimes the painful side is the result, and it started on the other side.
4. We don't support only the painful side; we balance both.
5. If it hurts even at night, or is swollen and warm, imaging tests come first.

We look at the whole chain, from the feet up through the knees and lower back. If you only treat the spot that hurts, it comes back a few days later.

If your first steps in the morning hurt, or nothing changes even after switching shoes, come see us once. We don't look only at the feet; we follow the chain up through the knees and lower back.

There are many possible causes, so the same treatment can lead to different courses for each person.