People often note how the internet enables hypochondria, by allowing you to see a multitude of conditions — some exceedingly rare — that happen to match your symptoms. But if you don’t abuse it I think it’s actually quite helpful.

I did a lot of walking today and this evening I noticed my left foot had a sore spot. I described it to Chris (verbatim, this is cut-and-paste from chat): “around my toes, on the left foot like… the joint where the knuckles are on the hand, around my third and fourth toes”.

I kept poking at it, wondering if it was bruised inside, trying to remember if I’d stumbled and banged it earlier in the day. So I tried the net….

It turns out this is an spot-on description of the localization of Morton’s Neuroma — weird scary name, but really a very common foot problem. My case is quite mild, I’ll take it easy and let the irritated nerve & inflammation relax. It can be caused by bad arch support — I’ve been told before that I should use arch-support inserts, so I should get a pair for these shoes.