Pain is a common side effect of exercising. While stretching can sometimes help you avoid the pain by making your muscles more pliable, it can also be a source of pain when you've overstretched a muscle or aggravated a nerve. Luckily most pain during exercise or stretching is not harmful and can easily be treated.
Description
The primary muscles in the foot are the extensor digitorum brevis, extensor hallucis longus and the extensor digitorum longus. Tendons from those muscles run from the top of the ankle over the top of the foot and attach to the toes. The muscles and the tendons work together against the Achilles' tendon at the back of the ankle and the calf muscles to flex the foot and help you to walk, run or stretch your foot. If you have pain at the top of your foot during exercise or stretching it is likely one of those muscles or tendons that are affected.
Other Causes
There are less common causes of foot pain during stretches. Stress fractures are another painful overuse injury. Small cracks in the bones in your foot will cause pain when standing or stretching as the bones are moved around. A stress fracture will usually cause tenderness in one area that gets worse when its bears weight. If the pain is primarily between the third and forth toes, it's possible that you have Morton's neuroma, a type of nerve impingement. Stress fractures and Morton's neuroma need to be evaluated by a health care provider.
Treatment
Most injuries of the top of the foot can be treated at home. Ice the foot for 15 or 20 minutes as soon as possible and try to keep off it. Take over-the-counter pain killers to help with the pain and wear a compression bandage to keep swelling to a minimum. If the pain continues during your exercise, consider wearing more supportive athletic shoes as the injury may be caused during exercise, but noticed during stretching.
Warning
If you experience pain that is sharp and sudden and you find it difficult to walk, seek immediate medical attention as you may have torn a muscle or injured a tendon.
