[enchantedonyx]

Hello everyone!

I started walking again in April, walking less than a mile a day. I now regularly walk 3-4 miles daily and I love it. I'm training for a 5k in September.

However, last night, we were maybe a 1/4 of a mile from the house when the arch of my left foot cramped up a little bit. I loosened my laces and stretched it and it felt fine. We finished a 3.5 mile walk and it didn't really bother me again.

Tonight, I got about a half mile out and the same arch seized up so badly I was moaning in pain in the middle of the street. I managed to get it released enough that I could walk and tried to walk it out but it was so painful that I ended up coming back home. It's okay now but still pretty sore.

I am not dehydrated- I drink well over a gallon of water daily.
Any ideas as to WHY it's doing this? Are there specific foot stretches I should be doing? Could it be my shoes?
I had planned to give myself a new pair of walking/running shoes as a reward when I hit 10% lost (I've got about 6-7lbs to go) but if it's that, I'll get them this week.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
~Onyx

[EricAnn]

I asked a similar question, but about night time leg cramping, some of these ideas might help you out: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/exer...hing-else.html.

[mimi86]

I have these ALL the time! I have fallen arches and back problems!

Try this when a cramp comes on, it looks silly but it works 100% of the time for me! Kneel down on the ground, but with the balls of your feet still flat on the ground behind you, so that your heels are up in the air and you're effectively sitting on them. Don't do it too fast or you might pull the muscle thats on the very inner edge of your foot.

Just like this picture: http://www.digitalrunning.com/wp-con...otstretch2.jpg

I can actually induce foot-arch cramps...not that I want to...that's how sensitive my feet are. They're usually induced by repetitive movements of my feet when trying to stabilize the rest of my body (when standing on one foot, doing kickboxing that requires me to be bouncing on the balls of my feet, jump-roping, running). The great news is that now that I'm running 5 times a week, I haven't had a foot cramp from running in I don't know how long...ages! I can still get them from doing other odd things, but it leads me to believe that once you start using your foot in such a way that it's not used to being used, you build up that muscle and eventually the cramps will stop!

[devnet]

If it keeps happening, it may be tendinitis from simply over-working the tendon. Also can be caused by poor posture (leading to overcompensation in how you walk). Same happened to me from too much DDR, lol.