A feeling that your feet are burning when you are lying in bed at night could be a sign of peripheral neuropathy -- nerve damage. About half of all people with diabetes develop some form of nerve damage when excess glucose injures the walls of the blood vessels that feed the nerves. Other symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include numbness, tingling or pain in the feet, or a decreased ability to feel pain, hot or cold there. Your doctor may be able to do some tests to determine if your nerves are functioning normally. Treating peripheral neuropathy involves taking steps to keep your blood glucose levels in a normal range, pain management and good foot care.
– just ask a large number of our patients! They can make it difficult to get to sleep at night, concentrate on reading or other tasks, and alongside the burning can come pain and other uncomfortable symptoms.So why can your feet feel like they’re on fire? Today, our foot experts at Sole Motion Podiatry in Point Cook share the common causes we see of burning feet.
You’ve recently taken off shoes or socks that aren’t doing their best by your feet
Your shoes and socks act as a second skin for your feet during the day, so it’s no surprise that they can irritate the skin and cause hot, burning feelings. This may be from rubbing against your feet creating red, warm patches or from trapping moisture inside the shoes and socks which can irritate and damage the skin. Try and avoid socks made of synthetic materials where possible.
You’ve developed a neuroma
Specifically, a Morton’s neuroma has popped up likely between the third and fourth, or the second and third metatarsals (long bones around your forefoot). This means that the lining around the nerve has become irritated and swollen. A good way to test this is to squeeze your feet from the sides (from the inside and outside of the foot, not from the top and bottom). If this produces notable pain, and perhaps some shooting sensations or any tingling, it could be a neuroma. Don’t worry – just book an appointment with our team.
You have Athlete’s foot, a bacterial skin infection, or both
Athlete’s foot is a leading cause of itchy, burning skin, especially at the soles of the feet and in-between the toes. You’ll be able to recognise Athlete’s foot by other signs like bubbly, blistery skin and redness, just like you can see here. Sometimes, it may be a bacterial infection that’s taken hold to produce similar symptoms – and sometimes it’s both.
Hint: Often, when bacteria is involved, you’ll also notice your feet are more pungent too.
You have a trapped nerve in your foot
Nerves run all throughout our bodies – from our spine, down our legs and into our feet. They go through numerous tunnels and in tight spaces, and can sometimes become trapped and compressed if something is reducing the space they have – like if you have some swelling in the area. This creates feelings of burning, tingling, numbness, pins and needles and more. We call these ‘neural’ symptoms.
The burning is coming from your lower back
Nerves are amazing things, and problems like sciatica or pinching in our lower back can quickly travel to other parts of the body, including our feet, to produce symptoms. If you suffer from lower back pain, it may be related.
It’s a symptom of your diabetes
Diabetes affects the nerves in our feet and legs – and the nerve damage and resulting neuropathy tend to worsen over time. Many people with diabetes will experience the array of neural symptoms we mentioned earlier, including burning. You may also experience the opposite – the complete absence of any feeling in the feet.
To better understand how diabetes affects your feet and nerves, click here.
It’s the Christmas drinks
Or any alcohol at any time of the year for that matter. Prolonged alcohol consumption can cause nerve damage, and hence the burning feelings.
You’ve had a long day on your feet at work
When you’re on your feet at work, you’re engaging so many muscles and tissues step after step, with little rest. So at the end of a long shift or a day on the tools, you may get some minor swelling and tenderness in the feet, that bring with them feelings of warmth. We call this mechanical overload.
The good news here is that we can often help reduce the strain on your feet, and so help ease these feelings, using custom foot orthotics to better support your muscles and ligaments. We often find that tradies, nurses, retail workers and those that feel like they never slow down at work get significant relief.
Other medical conditions and causes
Other causes of burning feet include:
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Blood disorders
- Hormone imbalances, including thyroid problems
- Dermatitis and skin sensitivities
- Heavy metal poisoning
- Smoking, and therefore blood vessel damage or constriction
So what should you do if you’re getting burning feet?
The best way to manage burning feet is to have a proper diagnosis of the cause, and start addressing or managing the causes. Our podiatry team helps with a number of these causes including neuromas, nerve entrapments and compressions, mechanical overload, Athlete’s foot, shoe and sock problems, diabetes and more.