ever had injury that feels like pebble in shoe?

I would go with a neuroma. it feels like you have something in your shoe, but it's just the nerve being pinched.

I had a similar problem last year. I had pain in the middle of the ball of my right foot from where I had developed a calus. It felt like stepping on a rock, and yes gravel roads don't help. I went to the doc and he said it was inflammation of the sesmoid bone which is under the ball of your foot. He gave me some anti-biotics and adjusted my orthodics. Then I started running of the opposite side of the road. I was running on the left side and since there's a slight incline ususally on roads I switched to the right side of the road to lessen the angle at which my right foot was hurting. However, if it's not just inflammation, it could also be a stress fracture. I would go see a doc if it continues.

I would start by taking that pebble out of your shoe.

You have a planter wart. They are warts that grow inward instead of outward. that is why you have this hard plug of skin and why you can pick at it but it'll come back. the only thing I have heard that really helps, according to a friend of my who was plagued by ONE for a YEAR, was to put this perscription wart remover on it. Slowly over time it should disolve the wart. Let your doctor know, he'll hook you up.

Good luck

sounds exactly like a plantar wart i developed a few years ago. had it for 3-4 years. my running buddies called it the hitchhiker. i could run on it fine, but it was brutal when walking barefoot.

had it cut out by a doc twice - came back twice. something i did that seemed to fix the problem (it went away after this - but correlation isn't causation), i stopped wearing socks with any cotton at all. i only wear thor-lo's now, and haven't had any trouble since switching. i also used salicylic acid on it in combination with cutting - i did the cutting myself this time - with some pedicure scissors. i would soak it in warm water for 20-30 minutes and then cut as much as i could stand. did this several times till it was gone.

I had one back when I was a freshmen in high school. There's this stuff that you can get, which comes in a little bottle (about the size of an eye-drop bottle), which contains this liquid gel. The name of it escapes me right now, but the folks at CVS will know what you're talking about. I put some of this stuff on the wart several times a day and covered it with a band-aid. After a week or so, the wart become all dry and I was able to peel it right off of the ball of my foot. I haven't had anything like that ever since.

yeah, i had that once. turned out to be HIV.

Plantar wart sounds right. I just did some more reading on it and will probably try to salicylic acid.

Any of you guys that had PW try sanding the wart with sandpaper or pumice stone? Some medical sites suggested that.

Yeah, I was on a run and that happened to me. Hurt like hell. I solved it by stopping, taking off my shoe and shaking out a pebble. Haven't had any problems since.

Plantars wart sounds right. I had one a few years back with the same experience as a previous poster. sought doctors advice, he cut it out, this went on 2-3 times. I finally cut it out myself. I wouldn't advise that route. It worked but I may be one of the lucky ones. I don't think it works to sand it down as it grows inward.