There is nothing more refreshing and invigorating as a long hike on an early Sunday morning. The beautiful aroma of the day and all those fresh faces from the neighborhood. Mornings like those sometimes made me feel as if my life was complete and I was already where I wanted to be.
This was until my feet decided to give me a quick reality check and started to hurt like crazy after a jog one morning. It turns out I was developing a condition simply called “ball of foot pain” or if you want to be fancy, metatarsalgia.
Best Ball of Foot Cushions – Quick Look
![Premium High Heel Inserts [Extra Soft Forefoot Cushioning] Ball of Foot Cushions for Women and Men, Reusable Metatarsal Pads, Prevent Blisters and Calluses, 4 Invisible Pads, Fit Any Shoe](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51K3hEN0KbL._SL160_.jpg)
How Do You Relieve Pain in the Ball of Your Foot?
I can’t even begin to remember how painful those days were, with my feet hurting really bad even after the shortest of walks. Fortunately, I was able to get the hang of my situation pretty fast and took whatever measures I could to get rid of the pain. Here is all that I found about my Ball of Foot Pain.
Scientifically known as Metatarsalgia, Ball of Foot Pain could develop due to a number of different reasons. Medical conditions aside, most people develop this pain due to intense physical activity or straining their feet a lot by wearing the wrong pair of shoes.
If the later one is the reason why you have developed some type of foot pain, you may want to check out my article on the best shoe stretcher. Whatever the reason may be, you can get over it in a very simple manner.
Firstly, you need to take as much rest as you can. Use this as an excuse to take some time off from your morning jogs or fitness routines, without feeling any guilt. Now, this may save you from the pain for some time, but sometimes a break will simply not get rid of the pain, or you may be in a situation where you simply cannot take a break.
For such cases, you need to start working on your walking posture and wearing more comfortable shoes. You might have to put your fashion sense aside for this one but trust me, this is absolutely necessary if you want to get better.
Lastly, get yourself a pair of Ball of Foot Cushions for your shoes. These cushions will stick to the inside of your shoes and relieve pain and pressure from the forefoot by absorbing all the shocks. Different cushions would work differently and have different effects, although here are some I personally tried and found particularly helpful with my pain.
Walkize Metatarsal Pads for Women
This pair of Metatarsal Pads by Walkize must be your very first go-to if you’re starting to feel irritation in the ball of your foot. The best thing about this one is that it does not come in the way of the aesthetics of your shoes since it just quietly sits inside in camouflage, with its beige color.
I was able to go to my office with this on for a week at least, and I can safely say none of my co-workers even noticed that something was off with my shoes.
These medical-grade gel pads are designed specifically for women’s shoes and work best with high heels and sandals. That logically makes sense since heels are easily the number one reason for this pain in women.
How they work is, that they minimize the impact of body weight on the forefoot and evenly distribute it across the foot. All the shocks are absorbed by the soft gel and hence there is no pressure left on the ball area of the foot.
I must say, the adhesion is also quite impressive on this one. Unlike other cheaper ball of foot cushions, this cushion by Walkize holds your shoe tight and does not slip out of place very easily.
If you still have any doubts about this one, keep in mind that Walkize is ready to refund you in full, without any questions asked, if their Metatarsal Pad does not relieve your pain.
Dr Eagle Foot Care Ball of Foot Cushions
There’s something about Eagles that always makes me nervous, but this name brought nothing but joy and relief in my life (literally speaking). Dr Eagle Foot Care has been making medicated shoe accessories for a long time and from what I’ve heard, they’re one of the best in the market.
These cushions are made out of the same gel technology and fit in just like other normal insoles for the forefoot part of the shoe. You can choose from two colors, skin and clear, although I’d say you go for the skin color. Skin just blends in better with the inside of the shoe.
Other than that, they’re really soft and completely reliable. The padding is even washable so if after a certain point they get too smelly to handle, you can just throw them into the washing machine without worrying about anything.
I don’t remember buying a particular size of the pads since one size mostly fits all. Also, they stuck in place just fine and never really slipped off of the place. The padding might start wearing off after a couple of months or so but that is if you use it daily and wash it at least twice a week.
Otherwise, you’re in for a long long time. Dr Eagle Foot Care again offers a 100% money-back guarantee if they don’t work for you which is basically another reassurance that they certainly will.
Dr Scholl’s Ball of Foot Cushions
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have another doctor in the house! As the name suggests, Dr Scholl’s also makes orthotics and medicated shoes to help deal with various foot conditions.
I really like the minimal design of this one. The soft little pad goes beneath the forefoot is not visible at all while wearing the shoe. While other ball of foot cushions make sure they don’t slip away from their place, this one also makes sure that your foot doesn’t slip over it.
This prevents toe scrunch in shoes which is absolutely necessary since you want the existing pain to go away, not another one to come over.
When you’re done using it, you can easily remove it from your shoes. I remember pulling it off with all my force yet my shoes were left completely unharmed.
The gel absorbs any and all shocks form the forefoot and evenly doesn’t let your ball of foot feel any pressure. This automatically takes your forefoot out of trouble and after using for some time, the pain is gone for good.
Dr Scholl’s also offers a 90 days money-back guarantee if this cushion does not relieve your pain. If you still don’t trust this, I don’t know what will make you do so.
Ballotte Premium Foot Cushions
![Premium High Heel Inserts [Extra Soft Forefoot Cushioning] Ball of Foot Cushions for Women and Men, Reusable Metatarsal Pads, Prevent Blisters and Calluses, 4 Invisible Pads, Fit Any Shoe](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51K3hEN0KbL.jpg)
This Foot Cushion by Ballotte is an all-in-one package for your Ball of Foot Pain. The best part is that it comes with a dotted shoe wipe which you can use to clean the surface before sticking it into your shoe. Once stuck in place, it can be easily removed as well.
The name ‘premium’ is somewhat justified by the extraordinary quality and durability. You can be as careless with it as you want and you still won’t be able to damage it. Don’t even bother replacing it if it gets old. Just give it a quick wash with warm soapy water and it will be fresh as new once again.
For the ladies worried about the looks, this pad goes literally invisible once on and no one ever notices anything strange with your high heels. The transparent color acts as the cherry on top and helps even more in hiding its presence in the shoes.
The medical-grade PU gel is the real deal behind this one since it ensures natural support for the feet and makes them feel soft and comfortable. The gel provides a massage-like experience to the feet which works wonders in relieving the pain and turning your feet back to normal.
Foot Petals Fancy Feet Gel Cushions
To be very honest, I was expecting to receive this one in a soft bed of roses but I guess the name proved to be very misleading. One thing I’ll give it to this one is that its cushy gel sometimes does make it feel like a delicate petal.
I’ll get to the build and the durability later on, but the comfort from this one is unrealistic. The pad appears to be very thin but is able to absorb most of the shocks and does not let the pressure leak to the forefoot area. I wasn’t expecting this level of comfort from this one but I sure was impressed.
I didn’t try it a lot with my sneakers and sandals, although it worked best for heels in my case. The front area of my heels was covered in whole and that too without the pad being visible at all. The quality although wasn’t very impressive.
It felt very light to hold, but not in a positive sense. It felt like it would break in two if not dealt with care. But since it was able to cure my pain before wearing out completely, I’m not going to talk about that a lot.
Another thing I completely forgot is that this one was super cheap. I was able to order a pack for around $4.5 and was impressed to find 6 of these pads in a single pack. At a price this low, I’m not sure if a better foot cushion even exists.