Discover the cause of your heel pain, and learn about heel pain treatment. Plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis are most common heel pain causes and can be easily treated with Physiotherapy for heel pain. Sometimes flat feet (pain in arch of foot), heel spurs and diseases that affect other areas of the body, like peripheral vascular disease or arthritis, can also result in pain in feet or heel.
Given all that you demand of your feet all day long, heel pain should not come as surprise. When it becomes more chronic — lasting more than three months — you need to find professional help for heel pain relief. It’s always wisest to seek the help of a specialist, like those at ReLiva Physiotherapy, to diagnose your condition and help you find a solution.
In this post, we cover all things you need to know about heel pain and the 5 most common causes of heel pain and what you can do about it.
Things You Must Know About Heel Pain
Before we get into details of heel pain and its causes and related symptoms, here are a few heel pain remedies and things you must understand to treat and manage heel pain in the best possible way.
- Heel pain is usually felt either under the heel or just behind it.
- Pain typically starts gradually, with no injury to the affected area. It is often triggered by wearing a flat shoe.
- Home care such as rest, ice, proper-fitting footwear and foot supports are often enough to ease heel pain.
- Most commonly affected groups affected by heel pain are:
- People who run or jog regularly, and
- Older adults who are 40-60 years of age
- Overweight individuals are also more at risk.
- Correct diagnosis is important: Heel pain could be caused due to different reasons. Let a qualified doctor or physiotherapist diagnose the correct reason. [Sometime a heel pain may also be indicative of an issue with your back.] Make sure you get medical advice and take treatment accordingly.
- Rest your heel: This may not be easy. Avoiding these will surely help
- Walking long distances and
- Standing for long periods
- Pain relief: Techniques such as icing, massage, ultrasound or electrical muscle stimulation can help to reduce the pain. Let a qualified physiotherapist treat you for effective pain relief.
- Stretching the calf muscles and the plantar fascia and strengthening of the intrinsic foot muscles can improve the foot mechanics and relieve the stress on the fascia.
- Foot mobilizations and supportive taping is also known to have worked well in treating heel pain.
- Use of well fitting, appropriate shoes/orthotics can help treat as well as prevent future occurrence of heel pain.
What are the most common heel pain causes?
Here are the 5 most common causes of heel pain:
Left untreated, any of these five common causes of heel pain can debilitate you and affect your quality of life, especially as you age.
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Plantar fasciitis
This type of pain could be due to the overuse of a tissue known as Plantar Fascia. Plantar Fascia is a broad, thick band of tissue that runs from under the heel to the front of the foot, helping to maintain the arch of the foot. In Plantar Fasciitis, the pain is felt under the heel and usually on the inside, and sometimes along the arch, mostly on walking and running.
Over time, the membrane of your plantar fascia can develop small tears, which become inflamed, resulting in plantar fasciitis. There are many treatments, depending on the degree of damage to your plantar fascia. They range from prescription insoles, which support the arch and take the weight off the nerve, to cortisone injections, and possibly surgery.
Read more about Treating Plantar Fasciitis
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Achilles Tendinitis
Achilles tendinitis is an inflammation of the Achilles tendon, which runs from your ankle to your heel bone. You tend to feel the pain of Achilles tendinitis in the back of your heel, just above the heel bone. It is typically diagnosed as a result of “overuse” by the runner1.
- a searing pain when you walk
This condition can come from overuse, such as running great distances or up and down hills. It’s possible to tear, or even rupture, your Achilles tendon if you don’t seek medical help. Failing to treat this condition, and not training the proper way, can have serious consequences.
[Call us at 9920991584 and we will connect you with a physiotherapist closest to you and get your physiotherapy treatment started right away]
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Flat feet
Flat feet, sometimes called fallen arches, might cause no symptoms at all, or put you in serious pain. Pain in the heel is quite common, due to the extra burden placed on the tendons and ligaments in that area because of the lack of arch support. Here are a few ways Flat Feet can affect you:
- Flat feet pain can affect both feet or just one.
- You may also experience pain in the arch of your foot, as well as your legs, hip, and back.
- You may feel stiff when you get up after sitting for a while, or in the morning when you rise.
As flat feet cause an uneven distribution of body weight, these symptoms can worsen over time. Flat feet can be a genetic condition, result from an injury, muscular disorder, arthritis, or weak ankles. Your doctor may prescribe custom orthotics or custom-designed arch-supporting insoles. Surgery may be necessary to preserve your mobility.
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Heel spurs
Heel spurs are bony calcium deposits that protrude from the underside of your heel. Typically, a heel spur results from untreated plantar fasciitis. Painful heel spurs can also come from the strain you place on your feet by stretching the fascia and tearing the membrane cover.
A heel spur is a pointed bony outgrowth of the bone of the heel (Calcanues). One out of 10 people has heel spurs, but only 1 out of 20 people (5%) with heel spurs have foot pain. Because the spur is not the cause of plantar fasciitis, the pain can be treated without removing the spur.
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Stress fracture:
This is linked to repetitive stress, strenuous exercise, sports, or heavy manual work. Runners are particularly prone to stress fracture [Read more at Running Injuries & their Prevention] in the metatarsal bones of the foot. It can also be caused by osteoporosis.
Other causes of this condition are repeated stress on the heel [wearing high heels for long term], such as jogging on hard surfaces, obesity, or poor arch support.
The most important thing you should know when it comes to dealing with foot pain is how to find relief. The nurse, pharmacist and physiotherapist (who will also teach you how to stretch the plantar fascia with basic home exercises) play a vital role in the recurrence of symptoms2. The symptoms may take weeks or months to improve. Remember that 90% of heel pain cases can be treated without invasive, expensive and painful treatments.
Watch this video to learn Physiotherapy Exercises for Heel Pain Treatment at home
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Scientific References:
1 ] Tschopp M, Brunner F. [Diseases and overuse injuries of the lower extremities in long distance runners]. Z Rheumatol. 2017 Jun;76(5):443-450. [PubMed]
2 ] McClinton SM, Flynn TW, Heiderscheit BC, McPoil TG, Pinto D, Duffy PA, Bennett JD. Comparison of usual podiatric care and early physical therapy intervention for plantar heel pain: study protocol for a parallel-group randomized clinical trial. Trials. 2013 Dec 03;14:414. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
