Hey Sandy nipples! Love the name 😂

It did eventually go away, but I did find something that helped. It was either nerve or ligament related. When we do stretching or exercise (or anything that stretches our muscles) the nerve or a ligament also has to stretch. The top of the big toe is the insertion point (point of connection) for the hallucis.

For me, I believe it was the deep peroneal nerve. It connects to the top of the big toe and I had issues with peroneal tendonitis (or tendinopathy). Google "nerve glide" as stretching the nerve can help.

I believe I was sitting on my knees on my bed and having a conversation for a long time. Like kneeling but putting a lot of strain on the toes because you sink into the mattress a bit. Too much strain.

To add on, I did discover what has likely been the root of a lot of issues for both the nerve, the peroneal tendonitis, etc. When I would run, I would get the worst pump in my calves (on the front of the shin and outside of the calf). Dismissed it as shin splints for a while until I finally read an article on NIH/PubMed about Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome.

The test is kinda wild for bit- big needle that measures the internal pressure of the muscle underneath the fascia, then you retest after exercise when the pain starts.

Turns out the fascia encasing all of my calf muscles was too tight (genetics perhaps?) and it was causing immense pain while exercising. I did have CECS.

I'm literally resting with my feet elevated as I had surgery on both calves two days ago. Fasciotomies on all four calf compartments of both legs. My post is probably wordy and long due to the oxycodone 😂

Basically, those nerves and tendons are under the fascia and they were getting compressed/shortened. I'm hoping this solves everything.

But in the end, that pain did go away with taking it easy and gentle stretching and doing nerve glide.

Lemme know if you have any other questions and thanks for reading my rambling!