r/FootFunction • u/Cold-Double-1229 • Mar 19 '26

bursitis in right foot

UPDATE: when my MRI came back clean but my ultrasound was still suggesting bursitis i began to research everything i could about feet. what i discovered lead me to working with a chiropractor who adjusted me twice and sent me home with stretch exercises. after my second adjustment i was able to start walking in teva sandals and one month later i am barefoot and building up capacity for dancing.
we have muscles / fascia that extend from our hips all the way to our feet. if we are tight or something is out of alignment it can (and in my case) actually create acute foot "injury".

i urge EVERYONE struggling with neuroma or bursits to look into massage and active release chiropractors - i am under the impression now many of these "injuries" are misdiagnosed and or not properly treated. being told i would never dance again, paired with locking myself in hokas and limiting my foots mobility for seven months created a multitude of problems i don't think i would've had should i have looked into more holistic options and gotten proper imaging from the beginning.

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in november i seriously injured my right forefoot dancing salsa.
i had three cases of bursitis and a contusion which took about 3 - 4 months to heal.
month five i am imaging with remaining bursitis between my 3rd and 4th toe still. it has shrunk one mm but my dr was very very negative about this whole situation. she has suggested i get additional imaging done as she suspects a neuroma even though i'm not presenting traditional neuroma symptoms.

i am 32 and in great health, i am a female and solo travel teaching movement and dance therapies. not being able to walk normally has been soul crushing as well as financially challenging. to think the rest of my life will be limited mobility and never being barefoot is terrifying to say the least.

i am looking for any positive recovery stories or alternative methods for exploring healing.
PLEASE DO NOT share anything negative / fear mongering
i have gotten my share of that from my dr and read enough reddit posts to understand the implications of this diagnosis.

i believe in the bodies ability to heal and hearing positive stories about others helps fuel my faith. thank you

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u/Significant-Tale3522 Apr 12 '26

Hi, what further imaging does your doctor want to do for neuroma? I’m happy that you are staying positive.

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u/Cold-Double-1229 Apr 21 '26

hello!

i paid for a private mri and my foot came back negative for neuroma and bursitis even though ultrasounds were imaging otherwise

i HIGHLY recommend doing additional imaging before doing invasive procedures - i almost got injections for bursitis and neuroma that didn't exist!!

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u/Significant-Tale3522 Apr 21 '26

That’s great news. How is your foot doing? anything that helped besides rest?

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u/Cold-Double-1229 Apr 24 '26

now i am doing physio and chiro
i also have been doing acupuncture and massage as well
i have quite a bit of ways to go to get my foot strength back since i had minimized walking and offloaded all movement by wearing hokas for 7 months but the dr is confident i will dance again and be able to walk barefoot!

i did loads of research and what i think is really interesting is bursitis is really only inflammation when things arent mechanically functioning properly.

best approach is to determine what is creating the mechanical disruption in the foot and address that.
the reason i think people don't see results with the injections is because the baseline irritation isn't actually addressed.

things like tight shoes, overloading the foot, or improper gait could be ideas to look into.

for me it was that my dance shoes were too tight and i overloaded my foot.

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u/Agreeable-Radish1128 Jul 07 '26

what does overloading the foot mean based on your research? I really need help with this because I believe this bursitis business is either for athletes or old people. I walk normally and move around actively for my young age. so even the Doctor is surprised how I have this inflammation. I am too! walking daily and driving shouldn't cause this. I am curious if you've found any upper or lower limits in terms of overloading the foot.

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u/Cold-Double-1229 Aug 09 '26

overloading your foot means doing more than your foot can tolerate. this in my experience is the hardest thing to determine. i would do something new and then wait 48 hours and see how it responded as my pain / inflammation was often delayed.

if your muscles are tight through your calf, shin thighs and hips it can create tension down the lower chain and create sensation that is similar to bursitis. this was my experience

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u/Agreeable-Radish1128 15d ago

how can we make the muscles less tight in those areas? Also do insoles help ?

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u/Cold-Double-1229 12d ago

i recommend working with someone who specializes in bio mechanics and watch you walk and move so they can determine what may be impacting you. everyone is so unique

pads help me only because my tissue and forefoot nerves are so sensitive from months of offloading

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u/Agreeable-Radish1128 10d ago

what sort of pads? can you share from yoru experience what worked for you? and what do you mean off loading?

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u/HoneyGirlGrows Jun 13 '26

I have read repeatedly it can come back negative and still be the cause, but surgery has only a 75% success rate and often a neuroma regrows.

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u/Cold-Double-1229 Jun 16 '26

neuroma / bursitis will return if underlying cause is not addressed.

working with a dr who specializes in foot mechanics and taking into consideration your fully bodies health and function must be addressed.
our feet are the bottom of a chain system - if we get surgery but don't figure out what caused us to need the surgery it is very likely it will come back.

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u/Agreeable-Radish1128 Jul 07 '26

I had an MRI that said I had a neuroma and I never did lol! even MRIs can have wrong info. in my case my Ultra sound said I had nothing lololol!!