heel pain

[norsie]

You guys are so amazing! You're really made me feel so welcome here.
(the hugs and the dancing banana!!!...omg that's the funniest thing!)
This forum is seriously making the new "eating plan" go so much better!

So I was wondering...any body have any remedies or ideas about how to treat heel pain. I may be developing a spur on my left heel. It hurt about 2 years ago and the went away, I recently took a trip to New York and walked a lot while I was there. I think that might be what may have triggered it.

Thanks guys!

[Sagitta]

Welll...have you seen a doctor. It is always better to get something checked up to know if you have speculated correctly.

Could the heel pain be due to the shoes you wear? Once I wore a pair of shoes until the heel got worn out and oddly shaped and that killed my heels -- until I got the shoes re-soled!!

Rest...'tis always the best medicine.

Also are you into traditional medicine...?

[norsie]

I'm more into homeopathic medicine and exercises and things like that. I should maybe go see a podiatrist or a chiropractor or somebody like that I really don't like traditional medicine. I'm against treating symptoms (beyond taking an advil for a headache or cramps). I'd much rather go someplace where the problem itself is treated. If it is a heel spur, I'd like to find a way of correcting it w/o surgery. I'm stretching my calves and my feet as much as possible.

I wear new balance tennis shoes and birkenstock sandals. maybe it's just time for a new pair of shoes or something.

thanks for your help!

[Sagitta]

See!! I had this feeling... :)

Nowadays they have unintrusive surgery methods...I know they use utrasound or some sort of waves for some kidney stone operations.

I'm also not into medicating myself / surgery, and dealing with the problem, but personally subscribe more to conventional medicine.

[tsb]

you may have a completely different cause, but i developed fallen arches, diagnosed by the orthopedic surgeon when i ruptured my left achilles tendon. not only did i have to give up wearing dance sneakers because i wasn't getting sufficient arch support, i now have use orthotics in all of my shoes. (new balance are the only brand of sneaker that comes in wide sizes to accomodate my orthotics, btw). it's the act of pronation (where your foot rolls inward so that your arch moves toward the ground) that prompts the formation of bone spurs on your heels.

one way to determine if this is the problem is to use something about the size and shape of a golf ball (if a golf ball is not handy). place the ball on the ground and place weight on the golf ball contacting the arch of your foot and do a gentle rolling motion. this exercise stretches the tendon underneath and when done regularly will resolve the problem. and get rid of the shoes or get orthotics with sufficient arch support.

good luck.

barry

[AllenThemind]

It sounds like you might have a heel spur. I found this site and they offer some good advice on what causes heel pain and some stretches and exercises to help too. I think they even have a free guide.<P>

I hope it helps.http://www.heel-spur-treatment.com/pages/plantar_fasciitis_exercise.php

[pygmalion]

Hi AllenTheMind. Welcome to DF. And I LOVE your username, btw. :D

[Sagitta]

Welcome to df AllenTheMind!! Glad to have you with us. :D Thanks for the site link. What's up with the other parts of your body?

[Lucretia]

My both heel hurts. The pain is diffuse, under the heel and at the point where the achilles tendon attaches the heel (the angle between leg and foot). It hurts very much when I sit on a sofa and the legs/feet happens to touch the floor. Walking is quite Ok, it hurts a bit but not too much.

It might bee a heel spur since I'm a notorios pronator with very "high" arches (read the post from tsb). The shoes I wear when the heels get worse stops me from pronating. The shoes has low heels AND pretty good arch supports.

When I wear high heels the heels don't hurt. But my inflamation caused by the pronation starts to hurt instead.

I've read about inflamated heel bursa but I don't believe these shoes adds any extra pressure at the hurting point.

I have tried a 5 mm sole at the heel to reduce the stress upon the achilles tendon but it doesn't seem to help. Only high heels reduce the stress sufficient (but I don't like them beacuse they are not good for my pronation/tibia inflamation). I've also started to stretch the calf muscle and the tendon regularly.

Does anyone know more about these diagnozies? Or do you have any more tricks that might help?

I'm really worried and I realize I might have to spend a 300$ or more on new shoes. :cry: Or perhaps I should invest in a personalized orthotics with sufficient arch support. I'm a bit reluctant to do that becaues it is so hard to get these soles good enough. Perhaps ít is the shoemodel that is the problem itself (lack of high heel and a too hard to walk on). Orthotics and so called "good shoes" has amost ruined me so far.

This symptom scares me beacuse If I cannot go on dancing I don't know what to do. Salsa has given me something to live for when everything else was black.

/Lucretia

[Swingolder]

Could it be plantar fasciitis? That is a killer, hurts really bad first thing in the morning or after sitting for a stretch. I had it about 5 or 6 years ago, went to see the podiatrist. He had me get some show inserts and warned me about going barefoot (a real no-no!). I wasn't dancing at the time, but was running 5 days a week and didn't give it up. Finally went away.

[Lucretia]

Could it be plantar fasciitis?
Yes it could, I guess this is the same as heel spur (English is not my native tounge). Or perhaps it is going to become a plantar fasciitis/heel spur. So far it heals in a few days. But as soon as I use these shoes it comes back again.

I went to my podiatrist and got a small inner sole for the heel. He said it would soften the steps. (Is it called shake absorbing or?)

This shoe is really hard but it is also a very good shoe for the pronation problem. Thats why I don't want to trow them away. (And they cost me a fortune :cry: .)

The podiatrist also said that I could go to a shoemaker and ask him to cut off and round up some of the hard edge of the (outer)sole at the back of the heel. This would also soften the steps. (Watch how a sport shoe is constructed under the heel - it is softly rounded. That soft edge take up some of the bounces/shakes when stepping)

All this was tips for free. Perhaps I don't need to buy knew handmade orthotics . But I will surley avoid this shoes untill it stops hurting. Meanwhile I sleep with tigerbalm on my heels every night. You should feel the smell 8)

/Lucretia

[Swingolder]

Could it be plantar fasciitis?

Perhaps I don't need to buy knew handmade orthotics . But I will surley avoid this shoes untill it stops hurting. Meanwhile I sleep with tigerbalm on my heels every night. You should feel the smell 8)

/Lucretia

When I first got my foot check, the doctor had me fitted for handmade orthotics. But I would wear them running and they quickly got all soggy from the sweat. I then went to my running store and bought their inserts, somewhat like Dr. Sholes, and have been wearing them ever since. A pair last a couple of years and are only about $25.

But my pain was not related to any one pair of shoes. So you may have a whole different problem

[Lucretia]

When I first got my foot check, the doctor had me fitted for handmade orthotics. But I would wear them running and they quickly got all soggy from the sweat. I then went to my running store and bought their inserts, somewhat like Dr. Sholes, and have been wearing them ever since. A pair last a couple of years and are only about $25.


Yes the material in the orthoticsis not so nice, I have a great deal to say about them :twisted: . Real good podestrians can actually dress the orthoticsis in some leatherlike material. Much more cosy. But it costs a great deal.

I have also tried the standardized ones you can buy in an ordinary sport shop or shoe shop. But the archsupport is not sufficient - it is too low. In a real good shoe - a shoe who has good archssupport from the beginning - they can do fine.

Do you know if Dr. Sholes have different sizes of the "archsupporting area".

I'll try to get a shake absorbing innersole to replace the innersole that already is in the shoe. I guess one can find these kind of soles in sportshops. Together with the shakeabsorbing heal support I got yesterday and a gel pad below the arch it might work.

(Does any one more than me think about the old fairy tale about the princess sleeping on hundreds of mattresses still feeling the pea. :lol: )


/Lucretia