Intense, throbbing dull pain in 4th and 5th toes. Get worse as the run progresses. The pain does not travel further than the toes at first, but on longer runs it starts to really ache under the ball of foot in that area as well, but very close to the toes (not central ball-of-foot). Even so, the pain is always worse in the actual toes themselves.
Started years ago as (what appeared to be) a nerve problem in 4th toe of one foot. I would get these 'electric-shock' sensations in the toe. It sucked, but now it is in both feet. I am reduced to a hobble five miles in, and then it is agony to even walk.
I have had a Morton's Neuroma. I don't think this is not what I have now, as the pain starts in the toes. It is a hard pain to describe; a burning achy feeling that eventually radiates to the outer ball-of-foot, right behind the toes I mentioned at the start. The pain becomes too much to handle. Stopping running for six months did nothing to fix it (I wasn't running because of that, it was other reasons).
I have tried all sorts of weird contraptions to isolate the outer toes (padding them, taping them together), metatarsal pads (my orthotics have had them for 10 years since the neuroma). Nothing works. My doctor has no clue. Anyone?