What is the cause of pain on the bottom of your feet?
There are several possibilities including the muscles on the bottom side of your foot. Those muscles can be pressed into with fingers or a tennis or golf ball. The muscles to press tend to be in the area of foot pain. They tend to be in the arch.
If those muscles are strained, wearing arch supports in your shoes may help by supporting them.
Another cause that is commonly overlooked is the piriformis muscle. This muscle runs from your sacrum (the wide, fused end of the spine just above your tailbone) to the head of your femur (top outside of your thigh bone.)
The piriformis is usually covered by the thick gluteal (butt) muscles. It can develop trigger points. Trigger points are very irritable areas of muscle or soft tissue that cause pain somewhere else, often quite far away.
If your pain is in your gluteal region (butt) and is approximately from the sacrum to the top of your thigh bone and is on the back of your thigh; and skips to the middle of the back of your calf; and is on the whole bottom of your foot then the piriformis muscle is quite likely the bad guy.
What’s the fix?
Apply pressure to the piriformis muscle. You can lay on a tennis or golf ball or have a skilled massage therapist press into the muscle.
Tennis Ball Therapy:
If you lay on the ball, lay flat on your back and place the ball under your fleshy gluteal muscles (not on the bones.) Find the most tender place and just lay there. In about 5 minutes you will notice it’s not so tender any more. Your muscle is relaxing.
Now roll slightly to find the next most tender area and lay there for 5 minutes.
Repeat at least one more time on a third area.
Massage Therapy:
Massage is a wonderful pain relief tool when applied by a knowledgeable therapist. He or she might use thumbs, elbow, forearm or a special massage tool (also called a “thumb saver.”) The massage therapist will press into the piriformis muscle and other gluteal muscles. She may also uncover additional causes for your foot pain in the muscles of your calf or foot.
If you check the Foot Pain category here you will find more articles to help you get rid of the pain on the bottom of your feet.
Good advice, Kathryn. I’d like to add my own experience. I had terrible pain on the bottom of my feet for years. I couldn’t count the number of remedies, orthotics and doctors I tried. By the time I was in my mid 50’s, the pain was crippling. I was actually applying for disability when I read a book about Rothbarts Foot. I contacted Dr. Rothbart, who diagnosed that an abnormal foot structure was the actual source of my pain. It was a great relief to finally understand why nothing had worked for me over the years. Thankfully, Dr Rothbart accepted me for long distance treatment, and within 2 months I was walking without a cane and had my life back! Dr. Rothbart has a free report available that explains Rothbarts Foot and clues that may indicate if you have it. The web site is http:curingchronicpain.com (I also put that in the box marked “website”) To get the free report, look for the “Rothbarts Foot Awareness Week” box. Few doctors know of Rothbarts Foot. Certainly none that I saw ever mentioned it, so I encourage anyone with foot pain that never goes away educate themselves by reading about Rothbarts Foot.
Hi Bonnie,
I’m glad you found a way to get rid of your foot pain. I have read about Dr. Rothbart and his work correcting foot abnormalities. Thank you for writing and sharing.
Kathryn