CUBOID Syndrome, the Cause of Your Foot Pain
You have 26 bones in your foot, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments.
As a runner, your foot is the first point of contact and takes anywhere from 2-3x your body weight every time you land on it. So, it should go without saying that your foot, and any pain it is in, should never be overlooked. But that persistent pain on the lateral side of your ankle just won’t go away, will it?
One of the most commonly overlooked injuries that can cause lateral foot pain, that represents approximately 4% of all foot injuries, could be the source of your pain! And the best part about it, if diagnosed correctly, your pain can be relieved in minutes after proper physical manipulation! The condition we are talking about, is cuboid syndrome.
The cuboid is a small bone in the midfoot that lies on the lateral edge of the foot. It articulates with 6 other bones of the foot, and acts as a pulley for the peroneus longus tendon (a muscle on the outside of your leg). The relationship between the cuboid and the peroneus longus muscle directly contribute to the biomechanics of walking and running. Athletes, such as runners, tend to overuse the pulley like system which in turn can cause the cuboid to adjust its position to be more lateral and slightly rotated inward, this in turn can cause pain.
What are the main reasons you may get cuboid syndrome?
Your shoes have worn out – for a lot of runners it is recommended you swap between two different pairs and change your shoes every 4-12 months depending on how much you exercise and what type of shoes you wear.
You have increased your volume of exercise – usually this is to do with increasing running and walking, but sometimes can also be increasing cycling.
You have changed the terrain you exercise on suddenly – especially if you change to sand or hills.
You run on the camber of a road – did you know that no road is ever truly flat? If you run on the same roads that have a slight curve to the surface you can load the outside of your foot more which in turn can increase your risk of cuboid syndrome.
You run in one direction around a running track – if you’re always slightly turning towards the same direction, the wear on your feet is not going to be the same. Try running in the opposite direction!
When the cuboid shifts out of position, it can cause scattered pain around the lateral and plantar (bottom) aspect of the foot, but can also affect all the surrounding bones, muscles and tissues. This pain tends to get worse with exercise, and is most prominent during weight bearing.
Here are the main signs you may have cuboid syndrome:
Pain in the lateral aspect of the midfoot
Pain when putting your foot on the ground first thing in the morning
Pain is worse when walking around barefoot as opposed to shoes
Tension or tightening along the outside of lower leg
Answering “YES” to any of the above reasons
Don’t delay getting you foot assessed properly as it could be slowing you down! Call 9873 2770 or book online today ( https://bookings.nookal.com/bookings/location/39XKS ).