Outer Foot Pain/Sprain Exercise: CUBOID Treatment

Metatarsal stress fracture or cuboid dysfunction? I would check the cuboid first to see if there are any joint restrictions. In this video, I'm going to talk about outer, or lateral, foot pain. Biggest cause for outside or lateral foot pain, outside of any type of stress fracture, ankle sprain, or anything like that is usually restrictions of the cuboid. Let's take a closer look at the cuboid a little bit in the role of the lateral foot.

The fifth metatarsal, the fourth metatarsal, both have to share the cuboid and you can see where they come together . The outside part of the foot, from a functional standpoint, almost works like a training wheel. It kind of goes up and down and it helps us when we're on uneven surfaces.

Finding the cuboid is easy. You come along the outside little toe, you come to this ridge or the base of the fifth metatarsal and you drop in and that's the cuboid right there. You can't miss it right there. So I'll tell you how to get to it from both places, from the front and the bottom. Most of the time, the cuboid is stuck down or flexed, and what you need to do is work on bringing that back up, mobilizing it up towards the ceiling in this situation here.

Think about after inversion sprain, right? Most sprains are inversion here. So let's say you roll your ankle and you can see how you might be able to take that cuboid and further jam it down, causing all sorts of lateral foot pain, or outer foot pain. So the way we're going to take care of it, first of all, we've got to find out whether or not the cuboid is involved.

After you restore mobility through the cuboid, and how do you know you've restored mobility? It's less tender and you actually start to get a little bit more of that training wheel kind of motion. The next thing we have to do is we have to work on the interface between the fifth metatarsal, the fourth metatarsal and the cuboid. So I'm going to come right down through here and you'll feel the web space and you're going to come right down here. So before we were here, now I'm right on top. With my other hand, I'm going to try to stabilize that cuboid, and I'm going to come here onto this fifth metatarsal and I'm specifically trying to move this training wheel up and down.

So now what I'm doing is I'm stabilizing the cuboid, but I'm moving the fifth metatarsal on the cuboid. Really pretty easy guys. Once again, sets of 10 here. This one's also going to be a little bit painful, not as painful as the cuboid. See if you got some better motion through there. How do you tell if you've got better motion? The whole foot has better lateral motion.

You're going to put a fair amount of force into the cuboid as you try to push your foot into eversion. It's not going to be very fun. It's going to be a little bit painful, but that's what you need to do. Once again, for one set of 10. Reassess. Does the foot have better lateral motion? Is it less tender through the cuboid? If it's not, then guess what? Another set of 10. After you do that, don't forget. We've got to fix the training wheel.

Now what we're going to do is we're going to stabilize the cuboid and we're going to basically grab the base of this fifth metatarsal, or this little toe here, and we're going to try to work just the interface between the fifth metatarsal and that cuboid right through there. Once again, a set of 10. The goal is increased lateral motion. I want this to spring a little bit better. Check the other foot if you need to. Once again, a set of 10, see how you do. You know you're done when there's a little bit better lateral motion through there.

So I've just shown you two ways to mobilize that cuboid if you were having lateral foot pain. One, if you have friends and number two, if you don't have any friends, you still have no reason to not try to mobilize your own cuboid. It's a little bit painful to do. Can't really hurt yourself, so don't worry about that. And the idea is that you want to try to get a little bit better motion so that you feel that foot has a little bit better lateral glide, especially, kind of visualize that training wheel going up and down on uneven surfaces. It's big after an inversion ankle sprain. So work with that a little bit, see how you do. Leave a question down below, subscribe to the channel if you haven't and let me know how things are going, okay? Good luck.

[nabiekareemsws]

Thank you so much ❤❤❤ 😢May God bless you man 😢😢😢 you don't know what you did 😥 thank you once again ❤❤

[christineg.d.]

I have been immobile due to lateral pain on my left foot. Last night, in tears, I did all the steps (after practicing on my husband)and it was excruciating !!! I woke up this morning PAIN FREE!!!! Thank you so much. My husband thanks you too! Xoxo

[Pj]

Man, a 5 yr old video but it worked like magic. It did it on myself and man, I felt a pain and right away a relief. That’s way I said it was like magic. Thank you so much.

[freddybkl]

I just went through 3 days of hell with a swollen foot & had to walk on my heel to get around. Watched this & did the exercise. I felt a pop in my foot & my mobility instantly became better. It’s still tender to walk on but I’m hoping my foot is back to %100 in a few more days after elevating, icing & compression. Thank you so much!

[stevenharlan]

Omg I'm about to cry right now. I've been dealing with this pain for months with trouble walking and u just fixed it in under five minutes! Thank you so much!!!

[candlestickmaker]

I've been dealing with this for a while now. Went to the doctor, they took an x-ray, said they didn't see anything and sent me home with arthritis cream. Feels much better after this exercise. Thanks for putting this out there.

[johnjorgensen]

Thank you and God Bless you. Woke up yesterday morning and was barely able to walk. I had not turned my ankle and there was no pain and swelling. I resigned myself to the need to see a podiatrist. After several hours of online research, I found this video and followed the instructions. I felt several "pops" and almost miraculously am 90% better; able to walk normally. Again, THANK YOU!

[thugly]

Here 7 years later to say this was a godsend. Thought I may have to pull out of a race I've been training for due to thinking I had a stress fracture but these steps worked perfectly. thanks!

[TomofAllTrades]

This was hands down or feet down the best explanation of this process. I found it very helpful in the time of the Covid crisis. Instant pain reduction and mobility improvements with this exercise. Thanks so much for your gifted explanation and the brilliant use of the anatomical prop.🙏🙏🙏

[Baribrooks]

Oh my goodness...this SO helps! I have been having foot pain for months and finally understand the issue and how to find relief. Literally crying tears of JOY...thank you so much!

[janetfabrizio]

I thought I had broken or chipped bone in my foot. I looked up a photo of the foot’s anatomy and looked for 5th metatarsal videos. This is the very best one! Simple, direct and to the point! And it worked! I felt a pop and no more pain! Thank you! I will use your channel for reference in the future!

[uumom]

Yes, this is what I needed! I'm 70 yrs. old and got the first sprain of my life by turning my foot on a sail boat. Urgent care gave me a cushioned boot and told me to ice & elevate, but after 2 weeks I felt I needed something more. Thank you!

[JonathanLukemusic]

Thank you very much. Probably one of the best videos I have seen for my issue. I have been struggling with pain for years and this joint and this is the most Commonsense video I have seen for the issue

[mitondo]

I've been suffering from pain for almost a week that caused me to limp. After watching this, I was certain that I had cuboid syndrome. I followed these steps and, dear me, relief overnight! There's still some pain and swelling directly on top of the cuboid (which I can tell will subside quickly), but boy oh boy, I could now walk properly! You're doing great for humanity! Thank you! All the best and the most positive vibes from halfway around the world!

[sheilasmith]

You are the BEST and most graciously caring and wonderful therapist on the internet! Thank you so much! Love your video, it helped me much! I need to find more of what is going on in my foot! Podiatrists cannot figure it out!

[annwe]

Thank you so much, just watch 5 or 6 other video's to help with my lateral midfoot pain. Some were good but yours is hands down the BEST. I self manipulated and the pain has gone.

[zasquatchrocks]

You nailed it. Genius my new best mate. My exact problem at 55 for 2 years. My right foot has caused me this problem for 3 years and you have solved it. See you for next problem.

[randyole]

I have a history of cuboidal syndrome with added plantar fasciitis. Ed's instructions worked to alleviate and cure my latest problem. Ice packs and rest also helped with pain and swelling. I was worried I would have to go through the rig-a-ma-roll of getting to see my physical therapist at the VA, but I fixed it myself. The PT at the VA would always do the cuboidal whip to fix this problem, but this worked at home. Thank you so much. Now I know what to do, and not panic when the cuboid bone is screwed up.

[SusieB]

Amazing results. The pain has been getting steadily worse, and tonight I did the exercises and felt immediate relief. Thank you for the advice on keeping it going for a few for the “no friends”portion of the video. My husband was conked out on the couch, woke up in the midst of my self applied foot therapy, gave me a strange look and conked out again.😁

[zamm]

Thank you so much. You have just saved my life. I did the 2nd method and within 3mins, the pain has lessen by 80%. Been having that awesomeness each time I walked long distance It will take me 2 days of just not moving to help ease the pain.
I went to many foot massages. It helps for that day or 3days but then it's all back again after 1 week. Thank you sincerely.