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Home : Conditions : Region : Heel Pain & Injury

Heel Pain & Injury

Heel or Foot Pain?

You may not be aware that the under surface of your heel is a cushion of fat that protects your heel bone (calcaneus) from the impact stresses of walking, running, jumping and landing. Heel pain is a very common foot complaint and may involve injury to the bone, fat pad, ligaments, tendons or muscles.

Common heel injuries include plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, fat pad injuries and Sever’s disease.

Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the ligament that runs the length of the foot, commonly caused by overstretching, flat feet or muscle weakness. It results in pain under the heel, particularly after rest or when walking and running.

A heel spur is a bony growth where the plantar fascia inserts into your heel bone. It is the result of a chronic plantar fasciitis or delayed healing that causes bone to grow within the ligament.

The fat pad is normally injured by repeated landing trauma and can occasionally be a precursor to a stress fracture of the heel bone.

Sever’s disease is caused by stress on the growth plate in the heel bone and is common in active 8 to 13 year olds.

Anyone can suffer from heel pain, but certain groups seem to be at increased risk, including:

Middle aged men and women
Active people eg running sports
People who are very overweight
Children aged between 8 and 13 years
Pregnant women
People who stand for long periods of time

What Commonly Causes Heel Pain?

Some of the many causes of heel pain can include:

Abnormal walking style (such as rolling the feet inwards)
Obesity
Ill-fitting shoes eg narrow toe, worn out shoes
Standing, running or jumping on hard surfaces
Recent changes in exercise program
Heel trauma eg. stress fractures
Bursitis (inflammation of a bursa)
Health disorders, including diabetes and arthritis.

How is Heel Pain Treated?

Most heel pain is caused by a combination of poor biomechanics, or muscle weakness or tightness. The good news is that heel pain can be effectively managed once the cause is identified.

Most heel pain can be successfully treated via:

pain and pressure relief techniques
biomechanical correction eg orthotics, taping, foot posture exercises
muscle stretches and massage
lower limb muscle strengthening
proprioceptive and balance exercises to stimulate your foot intrinsic muscles.

If you feel that your footwear or sports training schedule are potentially causing your heel pain, then we recommend that you seek the advice of a sports physiotherapist, podiatrist or trained footwear specialist (not just a shop assistant) to see if your shoe is a match for your foot; or discuss your training regime to see if you are doing too much.

Heel pain and injury are extremely common. With accurate assessment and early treatment most ankle and foot injuries respond extremely quickly to physiotherapy allowing you to quickly resume pain-free and normal activities of daily living.

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