Ball of Foot Pain (Metatarsalgia)

To understand the cause of your ball of foot pain, it’s good to understand more about the metatarsal region of your foot. Touch the top of any one of your toes and trace the bone down to the center of your foot.

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Causes and Symptoms of Ball of Foot Pain

To understand the cause of your ball of foot pain, it’s good to understand more about the metatarsal region of your foot. Touch the top of any one of your toes and trace the bone down to the center of your foot. Once past your toe bone (or “phalange”), your fingers will eventually trace a bone called your metatarsal. Attached to your toe bones, these five metatarsal bones help you stand, walk, and run by distributing your weight evenly to keep you balanced.

When your metatarsal bones are injured, inflamed, or abnormal, you might feel intense pain in the ball of your foot. Common causes of metatarsal imbalances include:

Bone abnormalities from genetic predisposition, disease (like arthritis), or injuries. One common abnormality is an overly long metatarsal bone.
A thinning out or shifting of your foot pad’s fatty tissue. That fatty tissue on the ball of your foot is there to absorb shock, but it can wear out as you get older.
A high arch or flat feet, either of which places abnormal pressure across your metatarsals.
Hammertoes, which affects how weight is distributed across your foot.

TAKE THIS SELF-ASSESSMENT

Identifying ball of foot pain may be difficult since it does not always hurt in a single localized spot.

If you feel pain in the ball of your foot, first see if it has these general characteristics:

Is the pain sharp and shooting, or dull, aching, and burning? Ball of foot pain can range between these two extremes.
Is the pain localized to one area of your foot, or widespread across your entire foot? While ball of foot pain commonly hurts near the inside of your foot between your first and second toe bones, the pain can also spread to your entire foot.
Do you feel localized or radiated pain up your leg and down to your toes?
Do any of your metatarsal bones feel or appear inflamed?
Do you feel more pain as you put weight on your foot?
Do you feel more pain when you walk barefoot?
Does it feel like you’re walking on a pebble?
Do you feel more pain when you stand on your toes?
Do you feel more pain when running or jumping?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you show some key symptoms of having ball of foot pain