Everybody experiences some soreness in their feet from time to time. Whether it be from wearing heels for too long, being out and about standing for long periods of time, or participating in high energy activities like working out. But to what extent do you acknowledge the pain and just deal with it? 

Today we are going to cover some tell-tale signs that your foot pain might be a bit more serious than you think and what to do if you’re feeling this way.

Watch out for these signs when dealing with foot pain

Consider some of these telltale signs you are dealing with arch and heel pain.

Pain in the morning when you just wake up

If you’re constantly feeling a sharp pain in your foot every morning, you should go see a doctor. People who experience plantar fasciitis feel pain in their feet when they wake up because the muscles in the bottom of their foot tightens over night and poor blood flow to your feet while sleeping. 

When you get out of bed the muscles in your feet stretch and with your muscles being cold and without a lot of blood flow people will experience pain in their heel.

Pain only after exercising but not during it

People who deal with plantar fasciitis often report no pain during an actual workout but a lingering pain in their foot after the workout is over, so if you experience this as well, it might be time to do a windlass test to see if you’re feeling pain in your foot.

Prolonged Inflammation of the Arch or Heel

Inflammation is one of the first steps in recovery from an injury, so if it seems the foot never gets past the first stage of healing, it's considered chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is a sign of bigger problems which has a greater chance of being plantar fasciitis.

If you have any of these conditions below, you’re more likely to have more serious foot pain

Outside of the normal risks associated with strenuous activity on your foot, if you have the following conditions you’re at a higher risk of dealing with serious injury if you aren’t careful.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a chronic condition that flares up pain in joints all over the body, commonly in the feet. Arthritis causes inflammation of the joints and surrounding tissues, and this inflammation makes people dealing with it more prone to plantar fasciitis.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is characterized by the weakening of bones, in extreme cases small things like bumping into something or sneezing will cause fractures in the bones. These fractures can happen anywhere in the body, but are commonly in areas like the hip or lower body.

If you think about pain from a fracture, you force yourself to redistribute weight to other parts of the body to put less pressure on the injury, thus adding more stress to other areas.

This shift of weight causes foot pain and increases the chances of developing foot conditions like plantar fasciitis as you are already more susceptible to a buildup of inflammation.