Has anyone hear of this procedure; posterior tibial tendon replacement with sub tower implant?

After approximately 2 miles of running, I get a feeling of "numbness" in the ball of my foot just behind my middle three toes. This starts with a feeling as if they are "going to sleep" and then quickly escalates to pain. It makes the rest of my runs very uncomfortable. As soon as I stop running, it stops.

The locatoin of the pain seems similar to the location of a sesamoid, however it is under the middle three toes.

My family doctor told me that I have tumors on the ligaments that run along the top of my foot. If I'm on my feet for a while, they swell to where you can actually see where they are. When they're swollen, they can be very painful if I move my foot the wrong way. It has really affected the range of motion in my foot/ankle. Does anyone know if there's anything I can do besides surgery?

A chondroma is a cartilage-producing tumor. It is usually benign, meaning it doesn't spread to other parts of the body. It is not likely to cause death. Most of these tumors occur in the tubular bones of the fingers and toes.

When someone has arthritis of the foot, it can be difficult to treat because it's hard not to use your feet. If medications and nonsurgical treatments don't work, the next option is likely surgery. But to be able to rest the foot well enough for good results, the person must be able to move around without weight bearing and this usually means crutches. If someone doesn't have strong enough arms or good enough balance, this can be difficult, if not impossible.

If you did break the tarsometatarsal joints several years ago and the bones didn't heal back in proper alignment, it's entirely possible that you are developing arthritis in that area. This is one reason why doctors recommend surgery for this type of injury, even if the displacement or bone movement is minimal.

Mark S. Myerson, MD, and Rebecca A. Cerrato, MD. Current Management of Tarsometatarsal Injuries in the Athlete. In The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. November 2008.

If you're having surgery in the middle part of your foot with hardware (pins), it sounds like you injured the tarsometatarsal joints, which is where the bones in your foot all seem to join up.

Certain types of athletes, football players for example, have a higher than usual risk of developing foot and ankle injuries. Tarsometatarsal injuries, those the area where the bones meet at the base or flat part of the foot, are usually caused by a high-energy trauma, but not when they happen to athletes. When an athlete sustains a tarsometatarsal injury, usually their symptoms are very subtle and the injury may be difficult to see by x-ray.

Plantar fasciitis is a painful condition affecting the bottom of the foot. It is a common cause of heel pain and is sometimes called a heel spur. Plantar fasciitis is the correct term to use when there is active inflammation.

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a newer form of nonsurgical treatment for chronic plantar fasciitis. It uses a machine to generate shock wave pulses to the sore area. Patients generally receive the treatment once each week for up to three weeks.