Injury from ill fitting fins?

[sealionesse]

I plan on going to my doctor because I think I somehow hurt my foot (the ball of my foot, by my big toe, hurts where I bear weight on it, movie it, or touch it--otherwise it doesn't hurt. I also just realized today, after a short walk to a store, that my foot is also slightly swollen compared to my other foot).

I am trying to pinpoint what may have caused it and what it might be because I really need to carefully explain everything to my doctor because last time I had a sports injury, she didn't believe me for some reason (I stepped in an animal den hiking and twisted and popped my knee... took me two months, and several office visits, to finally get approval from my HMO to be treated for it--AKA get a cortisone shot). I don't want to go though that waiting game again.

Anyway, I took an intro to tech class two weeks ago and learned new finning techniques. Because my recreational fins were too soft for these techniques, I had to borrow fins from the shop. Everyday my feet and ankles were a little sore, but the soreness was always gone the next day and I figured it was from the new type of movement. The fins they let me use were an XL but I usually wear a medium sized fin. I could literally wiggle my foot around inside the fin--up and down and left and right. When in the water, I also had to constantly reach back and make sure the steel springs weren't slipping off my foot they were that floppy.

My foot was fine for the first 36 hours after my last dive--but I really wasn't active those 36 hours. But then I did a lot of walking around an airport and my left foot started to hurt. It's been hurting on and off since (based on exercise). Basically, if I rest and don't move it, it stops hurting almost completely. But if I start up with exercise again, in a day or two it hurts. The basics of RICE seem to help the best (so that's what I've been doing).

Any insight? I read about fin foot and it doesn't quite sound the same since it didn't go away in a few days. Is it possible to get a stress fracture from badly fitting fins? Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

I seriously doubt a stress fracture from a fin, especially in the location you describe. The major force of the fin is put further up the metatarsals, toward the ankle.

Pain in the first metatarsophalangeal joint (where your big toe joins your foot) can be due to bunions (degeneration of the joint) or can also be one of the favored spots for gout. With swelling, I'd at least be suspicious of the latter, and I think a medical consultation is well warranted.

 

[sealionesse]

Thanks! I have my appointment for Monday morning so hopefully some good will come out of it. I won't bother mentioning the fins. I don't want to complicate things and slow down any treatment. I hope it's not gout! I am kind of low risk for it based on what I read, so I will take hope in that, but then again, you never know. I rather have an injury that heals and goes away though.

 

[sealionesse]

Just as an update to this, the diagnosis is tendonitis (the tendon that runs from my big toe). Looks like rest, ice, and pain killers are in store for me.