Hi everyone, this is my first post. I was just wondering if anybody had any ideas about what's going on with me.

A year ago I cockled over in 'fashionable' mules, and despite it being a bad fall, it didn't hurt at all. I went on the computer, and within three hours I was experiencing the the most incredible throbbing pain inside my foot. I was very busy, and didn't have time to rest the injury - in fact I was walking on it about six miles a day with the help of painkillers. It was agony, but I had no choice. It gradually faded away, but returned about four months later - and it was so painful that I couldn't walk. My boyfriend and parents helped me to hospital because we were convinced it was broken. The doctors x-rayed it and said that there was nothing wrong, and told me off for wasting their time. They also said I should rest it for three days. I rested it for three days and it went away for a month or so, but then it came back - for good it seems.

I'm now in a situation where I am forced to rest the foot three days out of every four, and any walking (shopping etc,) causes me great pain. Most of the time I have a very embarrassing limp, and can't go far. It's no life for a 21 year-old and I really need to get it sorted because i'm scared it's never going to go away and i'm going to be like this forever. I've been to the doctor, and he has given me a referral the a physiotherapist, but the prospect of *walking* to the physio worries me! Also, I can't imagine that it would make it any better.

I am very overweight and i'm positive that the excess weight being carried by my size-3 feet isn't doing the injury any good. The foot stops me being active which makes the weight worse, but the excess weight makes the foot worse, so I can't win!

Anyway, i'd say there's a lesson to be learned to anybody reading this: always rest your sprains!

Maybe what i've described isn't a sprain at all. Does anybody have any advice, similar experiences, or ideas about what might be the problem? Thanks for taking the time to read this!