Treating Heel Pain in Moorabbin
Sandringham Foot Clinic offers quality orthotics & podiatric care to residents of and visitors to Moorabbin and beyond.
Heel Pain
Heel pain is painful. Heel pain is complex. Heel pain can be debilitating.
The condition that causes more people to cry in the knowledge that they will get better is heel pain.
Various sites around the heel can experience pain, and the causes are numerous. Mechanical causes, including those involving the attachment of the tendo Achilles to the heel, are often to blame. This can result in a bone spur that, despite looking painful on x-ray, might not lead to any issues.
The presence of such a bone spur can will increase the risk of its irritation from the hard heel counter of a shoe. Sometimes this rubbing at the back of the heel can lead to a blister. If the rubbing from the heel counter of the shoe is a little less, a soft swelling can form under the skin (bursa) which can then become inflamed if the rubbing continues for too long (bursitis). Sometimes this bursitis occurs because of an inflammatory joint condition such as psoriatic arthritis.
Pain within the body of the heel can be due to inflammation of the bone (osteitis); a deeper ache can indicate a stress fracture of the heel bone (calcaneum) itself. This sort of heel pain can even arise through the normal activities of daily living including the crouching down when gardening or when wrangling of small children. Not conditioning your body correctly when you begin or increase the amount or the speed of the walking or the running that you do can lead to an ache if not injury of your legs and feet, including your heels.
If you experience heel pain on the underside of your foot, it may be because there’s not enough natural fatty cushioning under the weight-bearing parts of your feet. This condition can cause bruising in the plantar medial calcaneal tubercle, especially when you’re in hard-soled footwear.
Heel Spur and Plantar Fasciitis
Further towards the front of the heel, pain can be caused by another type of heel spur, which develops from repeated stress on the plantar fascia leading to bone growth (Heel Spur Syndrome). This repetitive stress is a common cause of Plantar Fasciitis, the injury to the taut band running beneath the foot.
Whilst the bone spur looks painful but the pain itself may not be where the spur is located. The development of the spur but generally is due to the mechanical load from the strain along the plantar fascia rather than the heel spur digging into the foot.
It’s often the case that an x-ray uncovers a substantial heel spur on a foot that doesn’t hurt, whereas the aching foot might not have any spur.
Causes of Heel Pain
At times, pain in the heel could be due to a small nerve on the heel’s underside getting irritated by the muscle above it. It’s important to accurately diagnose these conditions to create the best plan for effective relief.
In some cases, treatment may involve straightforward techniques such as cushioning, targeted exercises, and massages. Applying heat and ice judiciously, coupled with dry needling, can aid in relief. There might also be situations where anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroid injections, or using an ankle walker (moon boot) become essential for quick relief.
Orthotic Therapy
The purpose of orthotic therapy is to shift weight-bearing pressures from the painful area and guide foot movement to decrease strain on the plantar fascia and spur. Surgical intervention for releasing the fascia is needed in a minority of cases. Additionally, extra corporeal shockwave therapy has shown effectiveness in reducing heel spur and plantar fasciitis pain.
Severs Disease
In children, heel pain can arise from active play leading to damage at the back of the heel (Severs Disease). This can stem from ongoing tension exerted by the calf muscle and tendo Achilles on the heel’s growth plate. It’s vital to accurately diagnose these conditions to administer the most effective treatment for their relief and healing.
Our podiatrists are highly skilled in diagnosis and the management of heel pain.
If you would like more information, please call our Brunswick Foot Clinic on (03) 9387 8555 or Sandringham Foot Clinic (03) 9555 6555 or click below to book online.
FOOT CLINIC LOCATIONS
Our service areas
Sandringham Foot Clinic and Brunswick Foot Clinic provide quality podiatry care to residents across a range of Melbourne suburbs including:
3/231 Bay Road (cnr Advantage Road)
Sandringham Vic 3191
Ph: (03) 9555 6555
Fax: (03) 9555 6556
Email: info@melbournepodiatrist.com.au