Running is not always a pain free activity and as much as 75% of runners will get an injury each year. More frequently that not that injury is not enough to prevent them exercising and they generally just have to back away somewhat and make use of some minor interventions to let it get better. From time to time the exercise related injury is serious enough that it forces the runner to quit on the sport. There are several injuries which may affect runners, impacting many different areas of the lower limb. One of the more frequent injuries is what has become known non-technically as “top of foot pain” or ToFP. Clinically this is known as dorsal interosseous compression syndrome. This is an injury which causes pain on the top of the foot, commonly around the top point of the arch of the foot. This typically occurs in barefoot runners and runners who tend to forefoot strike rather than heel strike first when they are running. Running this way will probably try and push the forefoot upwards on the rearfoot causing the jamming of the bones of the top of the foot, causing the pain in that location.
Initially this %LINK2" is treated with ice to deal with the inflammation and perhaps anti-inflammatory medications to settle it down. Almost all runners will need to reduce their weekly distances run also to help settle it down. The ultimate way to take care of this is to work with more of a heel strike when running and make use of foot orthotics to maintain the arch up so the jamming in the midfoot does not happen. Even though the alteration of running technique could be an effective way to help this, it's not easy to undertake, and it is usually avoided to start with to try and address the issue without doing that. If the other methods are unsuccessful, then a change in the running technique is most likely indicated.