Foot Bursitis:

The term bursitis refers to an inflammation of bursae (singular: bursa). These are fluid filled sacs which lubricate any tissue that moves over bone – for example, muscles and tendons - and create a smooth gliding surface. There are many bursae in the foot, such as in the joints of the toes and at the back of the ankle.

These bursae can sometimes fill up with excess fluid when there is too much pressure or friction on the area, causing the bursa to become inflamed. This is called bursitis. When these bursae become inflamed, moving the affected joint(s) becomes very rough and painful, keeping you from doing the things you love. Any movements of muscles/tendons over the affected bursa can make it even more inflamed than it already is, and this unfortunately leads to more pain.

One of the common places for bursitis to occur is in the foot. Specifically, bursitis will usually occur either in the toe joints, or around the ankle (called retrocalcaneal bursitis or Achilles bursitis).

Bursitis in the foot is especially irritating - during the course of your day, you will likely have to walk and move around for whatever reason, so there isn’t really an effective way to rest your painful foot bursitis for the long periods of time it needs to get better.

The risk of getting bursitis in your foot increases if you match any of the following:

• You're athletic and enjoy participating in contact sports like soccer or hockey.
• You've had or are having prolonged exposure to cold weather.
• You've been using improper or inadequate protective equipment while playing sports.
• You're not conditioned and don’t do adequate warm-ups before exercising and/or sports.
• You've had bursitis before, in any part of your body.