how to differentiate between dorsal midfoot injuries?

Lisfranc injury to bones and/or ligaments ........stress fracture of either the base of the 2nd and/or 3rd metatarsal and/or cuneiforms they articulate with........Dorsal Midfoot Compression Syndrome........extensor tendonitis over the cuneiforms....? I have been dealing with this injury for the past 5 weeks and after all the research I can find - still can't determine what is going on.

Overuse injury after spending a month at the beach. Culminated in 3 or 4 sharp sudden severe pain incidents on dorsal midfoot. Have had a swollen or raised or bump directly over that central area and there is a silver-dollar sized reddish/slightly darkened "bruise"? over the area. For the first week or two, the entire foot from the ankle to the toes was swollen but that has gone down. The pain really only happens with weigh-bearing and weight on the forefoot / during push-off.

There was never any severe singular incident involving any significant force at once. I've tried to keep it elevated for as much time as I can, and initially took 400mg of ibuprofen but didn't want to keep taking it longer than the first week or so. Everything I have seen makes it sound like there is no way to tell which of the many possible injuries it is, since they all have the same causes and symptoms.

Seeing a doctor is out of the question. I wish it was an option so I could get some imaging tests done.

Posted Aug 4, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

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