Most of the time, it’s nice to have extra. Extra napkins are helpful when something spills. Extra time lets you relax or accomplish more tasks. Extra chocolates are nice for sharing—or even just indulging yourself. Some extras, however, are not so pleasant, like extra bone tissue in your foot. A painful accessory navicular is the perfect example of this, as anyone struggling with this bump on the inside of the arch understands. Fortunately, there are ways for you to alleviate this inner arch pain.
Your accessory navicular is present at birth and may or may not cause painful problems. It’s a small, extra bone on the inside of a foot arch and attached to the posterior tibial tendon. It becomes painful when something irritates the little bone itself, or the posterior tibial tendon attached to it. This can make wearing some shoes and participating in certain activities that stress the arch very painful for you—which can be limiting. You need to take care of the arch and the irritation to alleviate the discomfort.
Here are a few ways you can relieve the inner arch pain so you can stay active and healthy:
- Change Shoes – Look for footwear with soft uppers that don’t pinch or press against the inside of the ankle or arch. Select styles with supported and somewhat stiff soles, too. These help disperse pressure away from the midfoot.
- Ice It – Apply ice to the inside of your arch. This helps alleviate irritation and swelling around your accessory navicular bone.
- Pad It – Add a pad to the inside of your shoe to protect the extra bone from pressure.
- Support It – Consider using special orthotics to support and cushion the arch, so the posterior tibial tendon is under less stress.
- Rest It – Sometimes cutting back on the activities that are uncomfortable can allow soft tissue damage to heal. In advanced cases, you might benefit from immobilization to force your foot to rest.