Heel pain ... What is this disease? What did it come from? How to treat him?
You woke up in the morning, and literally from the first steps you felt severe pain in the heel. Let's try to understand the causes of this ailment
The heel, however, like the entire foot, plays the role of a shock absorber for your legs. The calcaneus, which is the largest of all the bones located on the foot, is able to withstand enormous loads when walking and running. However, a large number of nerves and blood vessels pass through it, some of which are sent “through” through the calcaneal part further. And it is precisely because of these nerve and blood channels that this part of your leg is very sensitive to all kinds of injuries.
Damaging this part of the foot is very easy. Heel pain can be caused by a variety of reasons, ranging from uncomfortable foot shoes to rheumatoid arthritis. However, the main and most common - only two.
The first reason that there is pain in the heel is an overstrain of the foot structure, which causes severe pain to a person . This condition is most often called "heel pain syndrome." Sometimes it is caused by wearing shoes on an unusually low sole, but most often as a result of thinning of subcutaneous fat on the plantar area of the foot.
The second cause of heel pain may be a disease called plantar fasciitis, the cause of which is a violation of the biomechanical function of the foot, for example, with excessive rotation of the leg with flat feet.
Along the foot, a wide strip is a dense formation called fascia. And the cause of your diagnosis of "severe heel pain" may well be inflammation of the fascia in the area of the calcaneal tuber. Over time, inflammation goes into chronic salt deposition, a bone growth is formed, which is popularly called the heel spur. Usually by this time the pain in the foot area is much weaker.
During this period, only heel pain is felt in the morning, immediately after a person gets out of bed, takes the first steps after a long rest. After about ten minutes, the discomfort goes away.
There are other reasons that cause heel pain syndromes:
Damage to the tendon - pain occurs in the heel from the side of the sole;
Stretching or tearing of the tendon - there is unbearable pain under the heel;
· Some types of infections that lead to reactive calcaneal inflammation - the pain does not leave even at night.
There are several methods to quickly relieve pain.
First, the alternation of cold and heat. First you need to massage the heel with ice cubes, almost to a state of numbness, then apply a hot warmer to it. Ice for heat needs to be changed every quarter of an hour.
The second method is the drug. In this case, anti-inflammatory non-steroid drugs, for example, ibuprofen, are very helpful.
The third method is orthopedic inserts that raise the heel half a centimeter, which will reduce the load on the transition of the heel to the sole. So, the sole will become lighter.
Sometimes the heel problem is directly related to human biomechanics. And if the functions of the foot are somehow violated, and the load is distributed unevenly, then a sensation of pain appears. Therefore, an orthopedic device prescribed by a doctor will correct this situation.
And one more important factor: with a sore heel, you need to choose the right shoes, so that the foot is comfortable in it, and the shoes themselves would be as stable as possible.
However, you do not need to self-medicate, but you need to immediately contact a traumatologist or orthopedist. And do not drag on a visit to the doctor, hoping that over time the pain will pass - your heel is under constant load, so her illness itself will not go away.