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3 Common Causes Of Heel Pain Must Know This To Fix
- chelsie462
- 6 hours ago
- 11 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/tN4UK8PuJro
Brad: All right, this is a subject today, heel pain, particularly for people 50 and over. The big question is, how to get rid of it. We're going to help you out with that today.
Mike: So we're going to cover the three most common heel pain issues, what's causing them, and then we'll get into detail on how to make your pain less drastic.
Brad: Now, there is one thing I do want to mention is that there is a relatively common heel pain that younger kids have between the ages of eight and 14. It's called Sever's disease. It's typically associated with growth plates and growing. It usually only lasts for a few months and resolves without any problems. So, in case your children are having that or grandchildren, that is really not a big deal in most cases. Now let's get on with the big three we're going to talk about. First, we're going to go through each diagnosis and typical symptoms, and then we're going to give you some common treatments you can do at home to help reduce the pain quickly and long-term fixes. Let's go to the first one.
Mike: It is Plantar fascitis.
Brad: That's right. So, for plantar fascitis, very common symptoms are the pain is typically on the heel, right at this point where the plantar fascia, which comes down from the forefoot, connects to the heel right there.
Brad: Another thing that's very common is when you get up in the morning, you get out of bed and stand, "whoa, is it painful,' makes you limps a little, and within a few minutes of walking, it'll stretch out and get, okay, that's very common. Mike, you have some more on this.
Mike: So with plantar fascitis, typically you might notice a little bit of pain initially, maybe just when you're walking, but it can linger for months, and it can start radiating. So maybe it's just one spot, and then before you know it, it's the whole bottom of your foot just aches and pains. So that's a common symptom that it is plantar fascitis.
Brad: That's right, let's go on to Achilles tendonitis.
Mike: So with Achilles tendonitis, typically it's not located directly on your heel, it's more your Achilles tendon, which is located in the back of the foot above the heel region. You can have tenderness or pain here, it can radiate down into the foot a bit, or it can even go up into the calf.
Brad: Right now, the Achilles tendon is responsible for holding and moving most of the weight of your body with every step. So naturally, that is when the pain gets worse. When you're walking on particularly uneven terrain or going uphill, particularly will irritate, flare up, and cause you more pain.
Mike: Oftentimes, doing steps can make it more aggravated as well because you are really kind of stretching that Achilles tendon area.
Brad: That's right. Okay, the third one is probably the least common amongst these three, and that's a stress fracture to the calcaneus or the heel bone. It's quite a large bone. Now what happens is the bone does not actually fracture like you think a complete fracture, very small cracks can form in there, and it's typically as a result of repetitive motion or something new, some activity that's new to a person. And this can cause a lot of pain, and it's typically throughout the calcaneus. It may be more in one area than the other, which is different than plantar fasciitis, where it's in that one spot.
Mike: Sometimes, a sudden jar or impact that is hard and sudden can cause a calcaneal fracture as well. And typically with these, you want to stop walking or running, whatever you're doing, jumping, maybe. You want to avoid any impact or stress on it. Oftentimes, you're going to go see the doctor, they may give you some type of splint or walking boot or even crutches just to get off it. Because with bones, it just takes time to heal.
Brad: That's right. Actually, with stress fractures in the calcaneus, they recommend three months, or 12 weeks, to get things to heal up properly with modified behavior, which is pretty tough for a lot of people. Anyways, with all of these, all three of these, it's very common, a change in activity, repetitive motion, or different footwear can cause these, and it's very difficult to specify in any three what exactly is the cause. A lot of people will have plantar fascitis, no apparent reason, but they have it, and they know they have it. Now we're going to go through treatments that are consistent with all three diagnoses, which can be very helpful and make things a little easier for you. All right, again, with all of these, you want to keep the calf muscles loose, and that's going to reduce stress on the tendon, the plantar fascia, as well as the calcaneal stress fracture. So you can either do it. A good thing to do is before you get out of bed, Mike is lying as if he's in bed, or before you get up and walk around. So I'm going to be doing it in a chair if I get out of bed, and I'm sitting down in the bedroom yet, stretch that calcaneus and stretch that tendon and get that whole unit stretch, Mike, show them a good way to do it.
Mike: So I'd be stretching my right foot here. If you're comfortable in this type of position, we call this a figure-four cross-leg position. You can easily reach your foot this way. Simply grab the top of the foot and the toes and bring them up towards your shin. This is going to stretch. You can see my plantar fascia right here.
Mike: It can also get into my Achilles tendon and calf. They're actually all connected, so you get a good stretch here.
Mike: You can do repetitions with it. You can hold it for 10 to 30 seconds, whatever feels comfortable. Obviously, if you have really touchy plantar fascitis, don't be too aggressive, just kind of warm it up a little bit.
Brad: Another thing you can do if you have a cane, that's not a hook cane, but one that's flat, while you're seated, this works best with a shoe on, you put that on the forefoot and it'll kind of grip to the sole of the shoe and you can simply pull back and get a nice stretch using those arms, leaning back into it as such.
Brad: Again, you know, five or six repetitions or so, or hold for 15 to 30 seconds to get that stretched out. Mike's going to show you how you can use a strap or a belt, where you have a loop, and put it around the forefoot in the chair or lying down.
Mike: You can also use a bed sheet if that works for you. Whatever you have handy. It's the same concept. You can just stretch up with a band. I like it because it has a little give, so I can actually push down against it. Just get some motion and some calf planter flexion going on. This can kind of strengthen the muscle, move it, and get through some range of motion. Just feels good for me. You don't have to do this, but it's just an option.
Brad: Alright, now we're going to go to the other part of the day. At the end of the day, if you've had plantar fasciitis or one of these diagnoses and your foot is just worn out, it's painful. This is a really good time to take a cold pack. This is what I use, one that's soft and gel. When you pull it out of the freezer, put it on the floor, and just put your heel right into it so that it conforms around the calcaneus. Sit there for 10 to 20 minutes. A really nice way to get that heel to feel better at the end of the day.
Mike: Now, another thing to think about with heel pain is how you walk. Typically, most people nowadays walk with a heel strike pattern. If your heel already hurts, this is going to put more impact forces on it, aggravating your problems even more. It can also cause issues in other joints, such as the ankle, knee, hip, and even the lower back. So what we want to do is try to do soft knee walking, we can call it, or walking on your forefoot. So when you take a step forward, try to land on the ball of your foot or the front of your foot, not your heel.
Mike: When you do this, typically it'll take that pressure and load off of your calcaneus, allowing that plantar fascia to settle down more or even heel up. You don't necessarily always have to walk around on your tippy toes like this. This is just a good way to begin, see how it feels. Over time, you can just try taking shorter steps and not landing directly on your heel out in front of you. If you just think about, "hey, I'm just going to keep my knees bent as I'm walking, not have them straight out in front of me," it typically will lead to the correct form of walking.
Brad: This is one of those things that, when you change your walking pattern like that, you immediately feel less stress and pain in the problem area. So you'll know it, take your time with it, and I like to do it. If I train myself to do this, I like to do it, and on my concrete driveway, I'll go barefoot, and I can very clearly take care of my heel pain, which I'm dealing with right now. Now this next one's common sense, at least in my mind, and a lot of people think, well, I need to work through the pain. You do not do that. If you do an activity that irritates your heel, makes it worse while you're doing it, or as a result of it. For example, my heel pain, if I went running, it didn't hurt while I ran, but the next hour afterwards, I was limping. So, I had to stop running for a month. Now things are much better. So avoid things that irritate it, no matter what it is. Let the body heal, and then work with these stretches, and the walking and things will improve. Okay, another thing you can do to help improve circulation, which always improves healing, is massage. You can simply use your hands and do a manual massage. For plantar fascitis, specifically, you're going to massage the bottom of your foot. Using your thumbs, at least for me, is the easiest. You can work in, and you can do circles deep into that plantar fascia. You're not just working superficially, but you want to get in deep and splain where you push in and pull that apart, and you do that all the way up to the calcaneus, that heel where that heel pain is. If it's really tender there, stay away from it.
Brad: Now we can do the same thing. Remember that this tissue is connected via the calcaneus or the heel to the calf muscles. If those muscles get tight, it will affect the heel pain. So we massage the big muscle here, the calf, what are the muscles there, the soleus, and the?
Mike: And the gastrocnemius.
Brad: So we're going to work on that. Now, the big disadvantage of massaging your muscles is that your fingers will get tired and sore, particularly if you have any arthritis in there. If you do happen to have a massage gun, they really do shine when it comes to this. For the muscle up here, I'm going to show we've got the C2 Pro. Now this new head, this is new technology, actually heats up and it heats up very well up to 113 degrees, and I might work that on the muscles. When you find a tight spot, it'll be a little more painful, and you can work around that area, and I'll just continue for three to five minutes. Mike, you want to show how you can do the bottom of the foot for plantar fasciitis.
Mike: So you're going to have to be able to reach the bottom of your foot. If you're using a massage gun, typically, just work the bottom area. I have this nice soft cushioned ball head on here, or an airhead would work well. Sometimes, the trigger point massage gun heads are going to be a little too aggressive early on. Just go around it. You don't necessarily have to go push directly hard force in. That feels good, you certainly can. You can certainly do the side aspect.
Mike: Again, if your heel is more tender, work around that region. Don't go directly on it. Over time, if it becomes better, you can massage over it later, but this is a less aggressive massage head, just kind of how to dig in there. Now, if you don't have a massage gun or you can't reach your feet, and it's the bottom of your foot being problematic, you can definitely use a foot massager option as well. There are many varieties of these. We have two different options you can use. They're nice, you just plug them in, put your feet inside, and let the massager do the work.
Brad: Right, that's a really nice option for 20 minutes, you can watch TV, fall asleep, read a book, whatever it may be. So, we hope you find these tips helpful. You'll find at least one or two of these options helpful in reducing pain and speeding up your recovery. What have we got? Another video that can help these people out?
Mike: If you want to check out a video on how to stop foot pain with walking, whether it hits the heel, arch, or even the forefoot, check out our video, "Stop Foot Pain While Walking; Heel, Arch, Or Forefeet," and I'm just going to keep massaging this because it feels nice.
Brad: It really does.
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