Injured heel?

If you're still not able to walk well you may want to check with your doctor.

thats happened with me. its a muscle inflammation. take rest. give it time to heal or u'll damage the tissues.
i kept running when it hurt and when it got really bad i went to the doc. he told me to completely give it a rest. icing will also help!

Been there. Still there, though. I hope you get better.

I'm having the same problem. It's on thebottom part of my foot in my heel area? Only flares up when I'm doing jumping jacks & jump rope. Once I'm done my feet don't hurt anymore. Hopefully we can both find some answers.... Good luck

Freeze a water bottle and massage your heel. It will help loosen up the muscles (or just feel good). Also, find a good shoe with support to wear. You may end up having a heel spur or planters..if the massaging doesn't help and the pain continues, go to the doctor.

My wife and I have the same issues, we both went to the Doc and were reffered out to a podiatrist.......for us it was heel spurs.......couple of orthodics and we were back in buisness.

I have plantar fascitis and a heel spur from running while obese.

It hurts a lot but there's not much I can do about it other than soak, tape, and endure until I feel like surgery to grind the spur down.

I reccomend seeing your doctor to find out what type of injury you have. It could be as benign as tendons and as bad as a heel spur or stress fractures. It's hard to say.

Does it hurt more in the morning when you get up then loosen up? If so, you may have plantar fasciitis rather than just a bruised heel. I'm dealing with it and I hate not being able to do any kind of cardio right now because of it.

PF would be my guess as well... It's usually a running injury, but can happen any time.

I got PF this past July, doing more running than I was ready for. In my case it was doing "too much, too soon" in my barefoot running, instead of taking it slower and giving my feet time to adapt to the new demands I was placing on them. I should have stuck to the C25K running plan, instead of getting excited that I *could* run and way overdoing it one day.

I decided, after a lot of reading up on it, to go a slightly different route than many will say is the Only Way To Deal with PF. What I agree with, as far as the usual advice is (in no particular order):

1. Rest the injury. This might mean taking a couple weeks/month off entirely. It might mean cutting back on activities as much as possible, and/or moving to alternative exercises for a while.

2. Stretch your calves and feet often - several times a day, every day.

3. Try to maintain a 90 degree bend in your ankle, rather than letting the foot dangle/point. Every time your foot points at all, the fascia, etc, are shortened, and then when you flex your foot again, it HURTS because you are *retearing* the plantar fascia every single time you lengthen it again. This is why with PF, it tends to hurt horribly with the first steps in the morning (because your foot in relaxation is not flexed all night long, and also after you've been sitting for a long time. Keeping your foot flexed/foot flat on the floor is very important until it's healed. A "night splint" can keep your foot in the correct position while you sleep - they run about $30-40 and can make a huge difference in recovery.

4. Massage of the fascia to break up scar tissue and promote healing -- you can do this with your fingers/knuckles, but getting a hard ball like a golf ball to roll under your foot is wonderfully helpful.

5. Ice your heel! Ice at least a couple times a day, 15-20 minutes. Many people like freezing a water bottle, and rolling that under their foot/heel.

Where I diverge from the conventional advice is that it tends to include something about "never go barefoot ever again; always wear a supportive shoe!" I wholeheartedly disagree with this. Wearing a shoe with a heel (which shortens the fascia and can provide a feeling of relief from the pain) is something I decided to actively avoid when dealing with PF. My feeling is that keeping my fascia/etc as lengthened as possible - in that flexed position - was important for longterm recovery. The last thing I want to do is encourage my plantar fascia to shorten and tighten, making me more prone to reinjury later on. I chose to deal with my PF as barefoot as possible. I stopped wearing any shoe with a heel, and after not running for a month, I started back on my running plan barefoot.

I totally get that barefoot running isn't for everyone, but my point is that if you are following all the other advice it may not matter if you wear shoes or not, or what kind of shoes you do wear. There are some PF sufferers who have it so severe and so chronic that shoes, shots, and/or surgery become the only options... but I think that for many others, following th *other* advice religiously can and will provide a great deal of relief, if not complete recovery. It can take a while for it to stop flaring up, because unlike muscles, the fascia, tendons, and ligaments tend to have little bloodflow and they can just take a long time to heal, regardless of what you do.

Another thing people will say is that you must stop all running, and any activity like that, until you no longer have PF. However, that blanket advice is not necessarily best for everyone. If your case of PF is quite severe, or is a recent injury, then I agree 100%. However, if your PF is fairly mild, it is absolutely okay to continue running or other activities if you use good sense. Perhaps cut back, and if it still hurts, cut back even more. Cut down on your speed and intensity when doing plyometrics. If it starts hurting during your activity and does not get better after a short while, STOP what you're doing. Get a feel for what aggravates it and what doesn't. Frequently take a moment during your workout to stretch your calves, and stretch them well after. Massage your feet (with the golf ball or something like it) for a good while before and after every single workout.

This link was VERY helpful to me when I first started out with PF, it shows the exercises to do to strengthen and stretch:
http://www.plantar-fasciitis-elrofeet.com/plantar_fasciitis_exercises.html . Another helpful starting place for understanding and treating PF at home is http://tao-fit.com/self-treatment-for-plantar-fasciitis . I didn't do many of the exercises he suggests (didn't use the roller for my hips, for instance) but it's a good article and worth reading!

My main suggestion is look at all the advice that you receive, and take what works for you and leave what doesn't. Almost all podiatrists are in agreement about the approach to take with PF - and like I said, I agree with it wholeheartedly up to a point. I don't think that shoes are necessary (or even helpful) for everyone, and I agree with those that say that avoiding running is not always necessary. I also think some podiatrists are too quick to jump to orthotics, cortisone shots, and even surgery, when a little patience and a lot of PT and TLC would do the trick. (And I also am glad that podiatrists are there when shots, orthotics, and/or surgery are the only viable options, don't get me wrong! LOL)

I continue to keep the area stretched and at a 90 degree angle as much as possible, particularly when I have to do a lot of walking in shoes (for some reason, that's what aggravates my PF the most) but I am pain free now. Good luck!

Where I diverge from the conventional advice is that it tends to include something about "never go barefoot ever again; always wear a supportive shoe!" I wholeheartedly disagree with this. Wearing a shoe with a heel (which shortens the fascia and can provide a feeling of relief from the pain) is something I decided to actively avoid when dealing with PF. My feeling is that keeping my fascia/etc as lengthened as possible - in that flexed position - was important for longterm recovery. The last thing I want to do is encourage my plantar fascia to shorten and tighten, making me more prone to reinjury later on. I chose to deal with my PF as barefoot as possible. I stopped wearing any shoe with a heel, and after not running for a month, I started back on my running plan barefoot.

I totally get that barefoot running isn't for everyone, but my point is that if you are following all the other advice it may not matter if you wear shoes or not, or what kind of shoes you do wear. There are some PF sufferers who have it so severe and so chronic that shoes, shots, and/or surgery become the only options... but I think that for many others, following th *other* advice religiously can and will provide a great deal of relief, if not complete recovery. It can take a while for it to stop flaring up, because unlike muscles, the fascia, tendons, and ligaments tend to have little bloodflow and they can just take a long time to heal, regardless of what you do.

Agree - now, I can't run in regular sneakers or risk a flare up of PF. I LOVE my Vibrams . . . although it's the exact opposite of what my podiatrists suggests. But, if anyone's going this route, do your research first. Barefoot or Vibrams take a long time to get used to and they may not work for everyone

yea...it's called plantar fa****is...I have it in my right heel...Naproxen helps but you just gotta work thru it. It is so painful at times I can hardly walk...Never walk barefoot.....cortisone shots can also help