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I would like to know what I can do with my foot! On my right foot on my high instep I have a lot of pain from the instep bone. It hurts a lot and is sometimes red when I have worn boots. My brother and my mother have deformities on their feet. Do I now also suffer from this?
Mary
Sepp Mortelmans, podiatrist
The pain on your instep is probably caused by the pressure of the shoes. You’re probably someone who has a higher instep that causes them to irritate in shoes (and especially boots) because of the pressure and friction. Due to this constant pressure and friction (which has probably been present for longer than you have been bothered by it), deformities sometimes occur at the foot. This, of course, only makes the pressure problem worse. Very often nerves are also pinched by the pressure and the irritation is so bad that people continue to suffer from it even if they are not wearing shoes.
Unfortunately, there is little that can be done about podiatry. It is largely a shoe problem and the best advice I can give you is to put on shoes with a closure that allows you to fasten the shoe a little more loosely at the height of the instep. Unfortunately, this is not possible with boots and boots are therefore not the appropriate footwear for these complaints. If you adapt your footwear to the problem and you continue to suffer from it regularly, I advise you to make an appointment with your doctor to see whether it is possibly necessary to get a referral to the specialist.
Do you also have a question? Then ask one of our experts. Always go to your doctor with urgent questions, the experts are not the right person for that. They also do not diagnose. You can find the other conditions here.
Sepp Mortelmans is a podiatrist. He is a specialist in the field of ultrasound and foot complaints as a result of rheumatism. You can ask him questions about foot problems in general and his field in particular.