Heel Pain Mug Shots: Your Potential Culprits

Heel pain can sure steal your fun. You planned a picnic on the beach, and now your foot hurts so bad you can’t stand to walk on carpet, much less hard sand. You want the thief found and put behind bars where it will never bother you again. The causes of heel pain can vary. Here’s a lineup of possible culprits. Look at them closely, and you might pick out the one who made off with your fun:

• Plantar Fasciitis is a pretty common thief. It occurs when the ligament under your foot is damaged from overuse or because of biomechanical issues like flat feet. Its identifying features include a stabbing pain under the front of your heel bone when you take those first steps in the morning.
• Achilles tendinitis is often in the lineup, too. This tendon connecting your calf muscles to your heel can become stretched, torn, or completely ruptured from repetitive or acute stress. It can take away your ability to point your foot downward, and the evidence it leaves behind is soreness above the back of your heel.
• Rheumatoid arthritis is a nasty one. It turns your immune system against you and steals the cartilage from between your joints. This causes inflammation when the bones rub against each other. The area becomes red, hot, and painful.
• Stress fractures might sneak in while you are doing repetitive motions or overdoing your workouts, while their accomplices are expert at breaking and entering—breaking your bones with acute impact and entering your rearfoot to produce havoc from ragged edges, bleeding, or tissue damage. Both cause you a lot of heel pain.
• Bursitis loots your comfort with a bulging sac of inflammation, and aging and hard heel strikes can pilfer the comfortable fat pads under your heels until they can’t cushion the bones anymore.