Pain in ball of foot?

So the other day I was playing with my brother's worn out old tennis shoes. These things are REALLY worn out and old btw. All of a sudden, I feel this "crack" or pop in my foot... it wasn't extremely painful but definitely didn't feel good. To give you a sense of the feeling, for a split second after I thought "WTF did I just break my foot?" within a few seconds it was apparent that I hadn't, and I played on.

There's no discoloration to suggest a bruise, but it has a dull pain like one. The weird thing is the pain is intermittent - walking will be EXCRUCIATING to the point I have to walk on the outside of my right foot. In fact it was so painful in the morning I had to drive to work with my left foot - and then an hour later, I don't feel ANY pain no matter what, then later it comes back again, this happens throughout the day switching from me being unable to walk normally, to being able to jump on my right foot without pain :biggums:

Anyone experience something like this? I don't think it's a bruise or torn ligament or muscle sprain, because then it would hurt constantly, as opposed to intermittently... but that only leaves a broken foot, which it definitely isn't as the swelling is minor.

The pain is exactly to the right of the four dots in this picture (follow the area in between the two toes), and additionally covers a slightly lower area.
[img]http://www.footeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Metatarsalgia-figure-1.jpg[/img]

I think I've had this happen to me when I played HS. You should soak your feet in epsom salt.

Need to wear better shoes too

wait for the pain to go away before doing anything. ice and compress. that's the first thing.

then wear better shoes. If those things don't work, only then would I be worried.

Pinched nerve or a ****ed up tendon. Hope for the latter.

I always confused a pinched nerve with a ****ed up tendon when I played basketball in high school.

If it's a tendon, then it'll last about a week if you do nothing to treat it. Put ice on it, 20 minutes off and on, and it should be good in about 3 days. Keep off of it, the more you limp or walk on it, the more time it'll take to heal.

After thinking about it more, sounds like you just ****ed a tendon up. Nothing too serious.

Can be caused by wearing too tight of shoes and just straight up shitty shoes with shitty footing, being overweight, or overworking it.

Alright, thanks guys. I'll ice this thing and take it easy, and make sure not to ball without my bball shoes on again. One thing I can say is the pain isn't getting worse which is a good sign.

I think it's the shoes, too. I used to deal with something similar when I played soccer.

When in doubt, RICE. Good luck and I hope you don't have to amputate the foot.