Your heel bears the weight of your body, and this pressure can often lead to gradual changes in your heel structures that cause pain. Heel pain can begin with a wrong step, overuse, ill-fitting shoes, or damage to the tendons and ligaments that support your ankle and foot during sports, frequent running, lower back injury, increased inflammation in the body, or other strenuous activities.
Once there is inflammation and injury to the heel, that are a few at-home treatments that can be done to help decrease the inflammation and pain: Resting and icing the foot and ankle, wearing supportive sneakers, discontinuing strenuous and high-impact activities, stretching as well as avoiding being barefoot. Depending on the level of injury and inflammation to the heel, the pain can remain or resolve for a bit and return with activity. At this stage, seeing a Podiatrist to help you with a diagnosis and guide your treatment plan is essential. Repeated activity on an injured and inflamed heel can reinjure the ligaments/ tendons and lead to chronic pain.
These are a few common causes of pain in your heel:
Bursitis
Arthritis
Heel Spurs
Underlying Medical Conditions
Nerve Injury
Treatment can vary depending on the diagnosis and severity of the condition. See a foot and ankle specialist sooner rather than later regarding is essential. Your podiatrist could offer a few treatments: Injection therapy, medication, orthotics, targeted exercises, and guidance on proper shoe wear. At Gauld Foot and Ankle, we believe in less invasive and holistic treatments for heel pain. We offer Laser treatment and Custom Orthotics that have proven to have complete recovery in more than 95% of patients with injured or inflamed heel ligaments and tendons without invasive or surgical treatments. You can book an appointment on our website Gauldfootandankle.com or call us at (678) 215-1882