What causes stabbing pain in the side of the left foot between the heel and toe?
Patient: As of yesterday, I am having sharp stabbing pain in the side of my left foot between the heal and the little toe. A few years back I had a problem with siatica, could this be related to that?  Usually I get alot of numbness in that same spot but the pain started yesterday and continues today. Thanks for your input. Doctor: Dear patient thank you for question.Let me start off my saying that you are absolutely right. This pain could most certainly be related to sciatica in which case you should go and see your doctor again.However certain other possibilities are present which u can rule out with the help of your doctor.1) Ingrown toe nail: The are near the toe nail will be red and swollen and extremely tender to touch2) spinal stenosis: Positional pain is a hallmark. That is if the pain increases on moving your foot in different directions. An MRI of L5-S1 is recommended3) Trauma: U may have knocked your foot somewhere and it may have hit a Nerve. It seems unlikely because I'm sure you would have mentioned it but we are covering all bases4) Vascular damage: Common in heavy smokers or people with a history or known case of atherosclerosis the pain worsens on walking a few metres. If the symptoms match the description go see your GP and get a Doppler  I would like to summarize by saying that my best guess is that your sciatica has come back and please take the same precautions u did when u had the condition earlierFor the pain I suggest ibuprofen 800mg twice a day with pantoprazole 40mg if u have a history of heartburn or ulcers.I hope this helped and all the best