You wake up and can hardly put your heels down. To walk, you have to tip-toe or the pain is severe. Right? This can last a very long time. It may occur without an obvious reason. It may fade during the day but it comes back every morning. Some of you do not have the daytime relief.

 The only consolation here is that it is very popular to have heel pain. Lets understand one thing here. There are many causes of heel pain. Not everyone has the same thing. Swelling that dissipates during the day is often a smaller amount of swelling that is draining into the heel from somewhere else. For example, knee or hip injuries above that heel may “drip” down to the foot. Another example is when someone has high blood pressure. Their swelling seeps down through the body ending up around the ankles and heels. It is often first seen in as socks leaving an impression.  Swelling (inflammation) control is your answer. Find the leak and fix it.

Still others of you may have a bone spur in the foot under the calcaneus bone. Pain here is right on a single point and the harder you press the worse it is. The point of pain is on the bottom of the foot, slightly forward of the heel bone – almost where the arch starts. Cushion your foot with an orthotic and/or  ultrasound may help(we do this all in the office). If not, get thee to a Podiatrist.

OK, plantar- fascitis people, thanks for waiting….It’s your turn! Pain for you is linear, burning and starts at the heel radiating forward toward the toes. Even pressing on the ball of the foot can hurt.  Your arch is falling. You need arch support and repair of the fascia ( the fibers that connect the muscle to bone).  Chiropractic adjusting the foot is wonderfully helpful here. Your arch is restored to it proper position and supported to retain and re-train. Exercises will be given to help strengthen intrinsic foot muscles after that.  Anti-Swelling techniques are still part of your first steps(no pun intended).

Figure out what you have and treat it properly. If you want to do something at home, make it anti-inflammatory techniques: elevate your foot, ice your foot, wrap your foot, rub the foot(like you are squee-gee-ing out the swelling). Arnica, enzymes, bromelain, or niacinamide are helpful to reduce swelling. Call us to help in dosage and frequency of these products: 630-322-9522