Are you dealing with constant pain in your foot and it's making it difficult for you to walk when you get home from work each day? You could be dealing with stress fractures. Is the pain preventing you from getting around easily, or doing the activities that you want? If so, you need to see a podiatrist.

A stress fracture is a tiny fracture within the bone, and the pain usually comes on after you've been putting weight or pressure on that bone. There are a lot of things that could be causing your pain, but you'll want to get to a doctor to get an x-ray to find out what's going on.

Diagnosis

A regular physician will want to get an image of the foot so they can see the bones, and they may want to get an MRI so they can see the tissues in the foot as well. If the images show that there is one, or several small stress fractures in the foot, you need to care for the problem immediately before you have a severe fracture. If the pain has existed for weeks or longer, you need to see a foot specialist.

Treatment

The treatments are going to vary, depending on the seriousness of the fracture. Your doctor may want you to put the foot in a walking cast until you can get the podiatrist. Your podiatrist can put a real cast on the foot if needed, or may recommend limited activity on the area until it heals. Water therapy that is low impact is ideal. Rest, ice, compression and elevation may also be needed.

Prevention

Once the stress fracture has started to heal, your podiatrist may recommend a specific type of shoes to wear to support the bones in your feet, and to take pressure off. You also may need to do therapy to strengthen the feet, to prevent future fractures. The expert will look at your posture, your daily habits and routines, and your footwear, to see if these are the causes of your fractures.

You also want to talk with the foot specialist about what different vitamins or minerals you could be taking, to make sure that you have strong bones that aren't easily fractured or damaged. You are going to start losing bone density after the age of 30 years, so it's important that you're taking vitamin D, calcium, and other minerals that keep the bones healthy.