Burning feet after walking, running or standing for a long time
Often the burning soles of the feet appear for the first time after an unaccustomed strain on the feet, for example after a hike or after standing for a long time. Several factors can be responsible for this. On the one hand, a long hike is a great strain on the feet themselves.
These can be severely strained by body weight, friction in the shoes, wrong socks and shoes or uneven paths and can cause pain and burning. Furthermore, during the course of the day a high strain on the legs can lead to overstraining of the muscles, fluctuations in blood circulation and water retention in the feet, ankles and lower legs. All this can lead to pain, tingling and burning soles of the feet during the strain or in the evening and at night after the strain.
Cause of burning soles of feet
In most cases, harmless changes in the skin flora, foot circulation or other superficial influences are behind the burning soles of the feet. Burning soles are often a symptom of an increased tendency of the feet to sweat, a reaction to certain substances, ointments, shoes, water or the air, irritation, wounds or rarely allergic reactions. Especially in summer, the feet can become irritated and burn due to a high tendency to sweat and increased contact with water.
Wet feet can also cause minor injuries to the skin. Another frequent cause is inflammation of the skin on the feet. This can be caused by a persistent athlete’s foot, which can cause itching and weeping wounds in addition to the burning soles of the feet.
If all these causes for burning soles of feet are excluded, a nervous disease must be considered. The sensitive supply of the feet is taken over by very long nerves, which are connected to the lumbar spine. Various diseases of the nervous system or metabolism, as well as traumatic accidents can irritate, irritate or damage the nerves, resulting in burning sensations, numbness and other symptoms.
Common causes of such nerve involvement are herniated discs, multiple sclerosis, polyneuropathies or vitamin deficiency symptoms. Furthermore, numerous rare autoimmune diseases and neurological clinical pictures come into consideration. Also rare is the so-called “Burning-feet syndrome”, which is caused by a vitamin B deficiency and can only be one of many possible causes of burning soles of the feet.
Cornea merely describes a robust protective layer on the superficial skin, which is particularly thick in its natural form on the sole of the foot. The cornea forms thicker in areas of the skin that are subject to heavy wear for increased protection, which is why the thickest cornea in the body is located on the sole of the foot. Due to its dryness and lack of elasticity, particularly thick calluses can lead to cracks and minor injuries of the skin, even with slight irritation.
These causes can already be tight shoes, overweight, increased sports activities or short-term dry skin. As a result, the sole of the foot can burn and hurt and even become inflamed. In these cases, mycosis pedis in particular occurs more frequently and in turn causes burning soles of the feet.
An occasional foot care as well as special powders can prevent cracks in the callus. Diabetes mellitus is a disease in which reduced production of insulin or insulin resistance leads to metabolic disorders of the sugar in the body. The disease can occur as an autoimmune disease early in life or develop later in life, often as a result of harmful lifestyle habits.
An important secondary disease of diabetes mellitus is the so-called “peripheral polyneuropathy“. This is a nerve damage that can result from the high blood sugar levels of a poorly treated diabetes. Burning-feet syndrome can be a typical symptom of polyneuropathy.
The first symptoms often manifest themselves as tingling, burning or formication of the soles and toes. Especially at night the symptoms are intensified. Later on, motor deficits of the legs and arms may also occur.
The disease cannot be cured, it can only be stopped by a therapy of diabetes. Polyneuropathies generally describe nerve damage that is caused by a disease of the entire body. There are many forms of polyneuropathy, which are associated with different symptoms, concomitant diseases, distribution patterns and causes.
In addition to toxic polyneuropathies caused by diabetes, alcohol, certain foods or drugs, there are also inflammatory or infectious polyneuropathies, for example caused by diphtheria or Lyme disease. In most cases, polyneuropathy occurs symmetrically and initially on the feet. Here it is accompanied by burning soles of the feet and numerous sensations.
Later it can spread and affect higher parts of the legs and numerous other nerves. Polyneuropathy itself cannot be treated, only the underlying disease can be treated and, if necessary, cured, which can also halt the progression of polyneuropathy. A vitamin B12 deficiency affects many people and in its pronounced form can cause numerous symptoms, as well as blood count changes and diseases of the nervous system.
The most common causes of vitamin B12 deficiency are alcohol abuse, vegan nutrition, anorexia, and gastritis. A severe form of vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to demyelination of the spinal cord, the nerves in the arms and legs and the optic nerve. This secondary disease is known as “funicular myelosis“.
Similar to polyneuropathy, this is where sensitive sensations initially occur in the feet, which slowly rise symmetrically and are limited in size by a stocking. Spastic paralysis of the musculature can also occur motorically. Burning soles of the feet are one of the first symptoms of this funicular myelosis.
Further information can be found here: Vitamin B12 deficiencyA herniated disc causes the outer ring of the disc to crack, allowing the liquid nucleus to leak. Slipped discs are most common in the lumbar spine, as this is where the greatest pressure and tension prevails and where both overload and lack of movement are the first to make themselves felt in the lumbar spine. In the context of the herniated disc, pressure can arise on the nerves exiting the spinal cord at the affected vertebral body.
These nerves are responsible for both the sensitive and motor supply of the legs and, depending on the extent of the nerve damage, can cause symptoms such as burning feet, tingling and numbness, and even paralysis. The pain is often described as pulling and can be felt along the course of the affected nerves to the spinal cord. Autoimmune diseases are diseases in which the body’s own immune system attacks and attacks healthy tissues and natural components of the body.
This erroneous reaction of the immune system can have numerous triggers and potential causes, but the exact mechanism of the development of an autoimmune disease is not known. Important autoimmune diseases are diabetes mellitus type 1 and multiple sclerosis. Both can lead to nerve damage and cause symptoms such as burning soles, tingling, pain, numbness and later paralysis of the muscles.
The symptoms often start in the foot, as this is where the longest nerve fibres of the body are located, which are affected by such a disease at an early stage. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease whose causes are unknown. It leads to chronic inflammatory changes in the brain, as well as to demyelination of nerve fibres.
In most cases, the disease proceeds in relapses. MS can be accompanied by very different symptoms, but in advanced stages almost all affected persons experience spastic paralysis of the musculature, exhaustion and fatigue, as well as numerous other symptoms. An early symptom can be a sensitivity disorder of nerves distant from the trunk. In rare cases, burning soles of the feet can therefore also be due to MS.
