Your feet must pivot, rotate and flex while you play a game of golf. A variety of golfing errors, medical conditions and injuries can cause pain on the outside of your foot. Because foot pain can hinder your game by causing you to alter your swing and preventing you from properly bracing yourself, it is important to understand why it can occur and how you can treat and prevent it.
Causes
Pain can develop on the sides of your feet if you place excessive pressure on the sides of your feet while you play, shift your weight from foot to foot while you swing the golf club or practice an improper swing technique. Corns and hard skin can also cause pain on the outside of your foot. Some medical conditions such as Morton's neuroma, tendonitis or arthritis can also trigger pain on the sides of the feet while you play.
Treatments
Take a break from golfing and keep as much weight off of your feet as you can. Place a cold pack or bag of frozen vegetables against your foot for up to 20 minutes at a time three times per day. This will help constrict the blood vessels and ease pain and swelling. Compress your foot with an elastic bandage or brace to reduce inflammation and pain. Your doctor can give you cortisone injections if the pain is severe.
Tips
Wear insoles to help prevent pain from reoccurring on the outside of your feet. Insoles can discourage injuries by stabilizing your feet, which improves your balance, distributes your weight evenly and improves your body posture. They can even help you hit the golf ball harder. Prevent pain by always playing golf from the insides of your feet -- which will happen if you balance is good -- rather than the outsides.
Warnings
Although foot pain can typically be treated at home, you must seek medical attention immediately if you can see a tendon or bone protruding through your skin, can't place weight on your foot, experience intense swelling, redness, oozing pus, tenderness, warmth or tingling in your feet. These could be signs of a serious injury or infection.
