Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome?
I've had an off and on again problem with my left foot for some time now that I think may be tarsal tunnel syndrome, however this based purely off of internet research so take that for what its worth.
For the past few years, which essentially amounts to the entirety of my running career, I've always experienced a general tightness in my left heel / achilles area in comparison to my right foot. I've always attempted to compensate with stretching, however it more or less never feels as loose and flexibile as my right heel.
When running, this tightness is often noticeable, but may nor may not loosen and disperse during the course of the run. If it persists, it will often develop in numbness along the bottom of my foot, at first partial, then developing to near total numbess / tingling, originating from the heel to what feels like the entirety of the underside of my foot. This is always localized to my left foot.
Once I this happens, there is no pain if I continue to run, but the numbness is not what I would describe as pleasant either. The only way to alleviate it is to stop running, usually take off my shoe, and just flex my ankle back and forth, wiggle my toes, do whatever I can to try and loosen it up and restore feeling. After a minute or two, usually feeling is restored, and I put on my shoes and continue to run. The typical pattern is that once it happens, it will likely happen 2 or 3 more times during the course of an hour run, but eventually, if I continue to stop, restore feeling, then run again, it will stop and I will be able to finish my run with no further numbness.
I would say that I typically experience this when I am getting back into running again after missing some of my frequency, and that it typically goes away during race season as my volume / frequency increases. However, recently I have been experiencing it on random days (one day I'm completely fine, others not) despite having pretty regular frequency and volume.
Does anyone have any experience with this? I am considering going to some sort of doctor or specialist to confirm the diagnosis, but even then I'm not sure what the treatment would be. I suppose I am still in the research phase, however it seems like I have been ignoring this problem for too long as it is.