3 Common Causes of Heel Pain

Heel pain can be caused by repetitive stress injury from work and exercise. In fact, improper arch support can cause tiny tears in your plantar fascia (the tissue that forms your arch) that often-radiate pain to the heel. Heel pain can also be caused by wearing tight-fitting shoes like high heels. Having heel pain and discomfort can cause you to alter the way you walk, creating pronation problems, and knee, back, and hip pain. Your foot doctor can correct all of these problems with custom orthotics.

3 common conditions that cause heel pain and discomfort include the following:

1. Sever’s disease—This disease affects children when the growth plate in the heel grows faster than the surrounding tissues and ligaments. It is similar to a disease called Osgood-Schlatters that affects the growth plate in the knee. In most cases, the rates of growth will eventually equalize and correct the problem
2. Plantar fasciitis—The band of tissue that spans the bottom of your foot between your toes and heel is the plantar fascia. When it becomes inflamed, stretched, or overstressed from hard work and exercise, severe pain is often felt in the arch and the back of the heel. The heel pain initially occurs when first arising and then subsides.
3. Achilles tendonitis—The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon you have, and it connects your heel to your calf muscle. When this tendon becomes stressed and stretched, the result is severe tenderness, and pain in the back of the heel where the tendon attaches.

Since heel pain has so many potential causes and treatments, be sure to consult with your foot doctor for the correct diagnosis and treatment. The foot experts at Desert Podiatric Medical Specialists, in the Tucson, Oro Valley, and Green Valley areas of Pima County Arizona, have unparalleled experience in treating all aspects of foot and ankle care. Our team of doctors, including Christopher M. Funk, D.P.M., FACFAS, Bradley A. Whitaker, D.P.M., FACFAS, and Peter C. Merrill, D.P.M., AACFAS, is dedicated to serving you with state-of-the-art, cutting edge medical technologies including the PinPointe FootLaser, custom-fitted orthotics, and Radial Pulse Therapy (RPT) for chronic foot, heel, or ankle pain. If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment, please call (520) 575-0800.