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What causes heel pain?

If you feel sharp stabbing pain in your heel, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common soft tissue injuries we treat. As there are a number of factors that cause heel pain, an accurate diagnosis from one of our podiatrists can identify the cause. Then an effective treatment program can be recommended to resolve your problem.

We’ll also provide education and simple exercises to both help reduce the heel pain as well as the return of this condition.

Heel Pain From Plantar Fasciitis/Fasciosis

Plantar fasciitis is a common cause of heel pain. It’s an injury to the thick band of tissue that runs from the base of the toe joints into the heel bone.

  • Mostly painful under or on the side of the heel.
  • Generally worse first thing in the morning or getting up after rest.
  • Common in people in their 40s-50s or with jobs that require lots of standing/walking.
  • Has 2 stages of injury, inflammatory 2-3 weeks, then thickening/repair 3+ weeks.

We can assist with heel pain through our Plantar Fasciitis Treatment at Your Foot Clinic.

Heel Spur Causing Heel Pain

What is a heel spur?

It is commonly thought that a lot of heel pain is a result of the dreaded heel spur, but it is often not the case.

 

  • A heel spur is a calcium deposit that develops at the bottom of the heel bone due to the pull of the plantar fascia which is attachment at this site.
  • Heel spurs generally cause no pain but when calcified bone has involved itself in the repair of the injured plantar fascia, inflammation may occur which will generally cause the pain.

Heel Pain From Achilles Tendon Pathologies

The Achilles tendon is the strongest and largest tendon in the human body and can support 4 times a person’s body weight.

  • Achilles tendon injuries generally create pain at the back of the foot and above the heel.
  • Discomfort is usually felt arising after rest and with walking up stairs or hills.

There can be a number of pathologies that lead to heel pain. These include:

  • Achilles tendonopathy
  • Insertional Achilles tendonopathy
  • Retrocalcaneal bursitis
  • Achilles rupture
  • Haglund’s deformity

Severs’ Disease (Calcaneal Apophysitis) Causing Heel Pain

This type of heel pain commonly occurs between the age of 8-14 in children that play a lot of sport and are experiencing growth spurts.

  • Causes pain around the back of the heel bone, particularly after rest and activity.
  • Pain is a result of the Achilles tendon irritating the growth plate in the heel bone.
  • Easy to diagnose and treat allowing children to get back to running around pain free as quickly as possible.

Why Choose Your Foot Clinic?

Our team of five podiatrists have over 40 years of experience and treat a wide range of heel pain, foot and lower limb issues with specialist knowledge and equipment on-site. Book an appointment today at either of our two Clinics – Ferntree Gully or Doncaster East.

Book an appointment today