Tips and Advice on Preventing, Reducing and Relieving Aching Heel

Tips and Advice on Preventing, Reducing and Relieving Aching Heel

Heel pain is the most common of all foot complaints. Heel pain is a more general term given to specific medical ailments that affect the foot, most commonly called plantar fasciitis and heel spurs.

Most people usually complains of pain with the first step in the morning, after getting out of the bed. It is usually presented as sharp stabbing pain at the bottom or front of the heel bone and can vary in the severity.  Person experiences some relief following activity, but the pain returning after extended amounts of time standing or walking.

Heel pain usually occurs as a result of excessive, constant abnormal pulling and stretching of the fibrous bands that support the arch or repetitive pounding on the heel, causes the heel bone to become inflamed and painful. This inflammation of the planter fascia near its attachment to heel may eventually leads to formation of bony growth on the calcaneous (heel bone), which is called Heel Spur.

Here are some advice to reduce your heel pain; 

1. Management of heel ache at home can begin by refraining from putting any additional stress on the inflamed area.  Avoid activities that require extensive use of your legs, such as running or walking and try biking or swimming instead. Avoid the treadmill at the gym. Limit the number of times you go up and down the stairs.

2. Try an ice message: Icing can help pain to some degree and reduce inflammation. Freeze a sports water bottle and place it on the floor. Roll you arch over the water bottle for 20 minutes twice a day.

3. Anti-inflammatory medications can also be helpful.

All above methods provide you with temporary relief from pain, more permanent or long term solution of your aching heel can be achieved from doing daily stretching exercises and wearing orthotic supportive shoes.

1. Do stretching exercises : It should also be noted that heel pain sufferers often also experience very tight calf muscles. So you should stretch your calf muscles by placing a towel or a belt on your dresser. In the morning, before you get out of bed, wrap the towel around the ball of your foot. Pull the foot towards you, keeping your leg straight. You should feel a stretch in your calf. This will help to loosen your calves and reduce your heel ache. 

2. Wear supportive shoes: This is the most effective solution to heel pain is to treat the cause of the problem by correcting abnormal foot mechanics. A supportive shoe will bend only where the foot beds, at the toes. To test this, take your shoe and flip it over. If the shoe bends in half, then the shoe is not supportive.

If all above suggestion fails to relieve your heel pain then see an podiatrist, they are the expert people in dealing with foot problems.