Heel that pain – tips to help heal the heel!

Do you have heel pain that just won’t go away? There are several reasons you might be experiencing heel pain – tendon, muscular, bone, fascial or even referred. The most common heel injuries we see as physiotherapists are achilles tendon injuries and plantar fasciopathy.

The achilles tendon is the tough band at the back of your heel that connects your calf muscles to the heel bone. Generally, we can experience pain in this tendon when our body reacts to a change in load. The best way to manage achilles tendon injuries is with a heel raise (temporarily to help offload), modifying your load, and progressively strengthening (so that the tendon can tolerate more load).

The plantar fascia is a band of connective tissue underneath the foot. When you have discomfort or pain underneath the heel, it can be a ‘plantar fasciopathy’. This is typically quite painful in the morning for the first few steps and then eases throughout the day. Also, standing following prolonged sitting can reproduce the pain.

Similar to the achilles tendon, load management is crucial in the recovery of plantar fasciopathy. A few techniques which can help at home include rolling your foot on a golf ball or a frozen bottle of water and stretching your foot as seen in the image. Speak to one of our qualified physiotherapists at Ergoworks if you are struggling with heel pain. We can help you get back on your feet!