I went for an easy run yesterday and noticed that my left heel felt sore when I was warming up. The pain went away, but came back after I finished the run. It continues to hurt this morning. It feels like a bruse or muscle sore on the bottom of the heel. I’m worried that it may be plantar fasciitis, does anyone know of any ways to diagnose it one way or another?
Thanks,
Jonathan
Plantar fasciitis is so common, it probably is. Most cases resolve pretty quickly if you rest it NOW. Also, get a water bottle, freeze it, roll your foot on it. Be mindful of your pre and post-run posterior muscle group stretches and make sure your shoes aren’t worn out.
PF presents differently in people, but usually it will be tender along the medial arch if you push along the tight band (plantar fascia) with your toes up and also the general bottom of the heel. The specific location is usually the medial calcaneal tubercle - measure about 2.5 cm from the inferior surface and 4.5 cm from the back of the heel - make an X. Push there. Ouch!
rroof is probably right, I had the exact situation about 7 weeks ago, took almost 2 weeks off running entirely (worked on my swimming instead). I did a half IM last weekend and had no pain, before, during or afterwards (also had a kick-ass run). Some mornings, it still twinges, but I stretch my calves first thing, and it’s fine.
AP
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll take a couple weeks off of running.
Will biking agitate it?
unlikely that biking will bother it as it’s probably an impact/overuse injury.
I had a case of PF that sidelined me for a while a few years ago, and it flares up a little from time to time still. When it’s making its presence known, I tend to particularly notice it on runs off the bike, however, which is probably related to posterior tightness rroof describes above. So…I would advise not doing any bricks for a bit after you get back into the running. There are a number of products (splints, splint-like socks) to be worn while sleeping that maintain the foot at a 90 degree angle to the lower leg, thereby passively stretching the calf/achilles. User feedback indicates that these are pretty effetive.
In my experiance PF is often effected by calf tighteness. For me about 9 times out of ten when I start getting the initial signs of PF, it’s becaiuse I have a muscle knot in my calf.
Just my experiance.
And the other 1 out of 10 is usually because I’m over doing it or have old shoes.
~Matt
I’ve had this problem on and off for years. I agree with Matt, it’s usually root cause is usually tight calves and new shoes required. STRETCH STRETCH STRETCH and ice it down.
It didn’t for me. But just make sure to stretch your calves, and achilles.
AP
OK, so it’s been a week and my heel is still agitated.
Are there any other ailments that can cause heel pain besides Plantar Fasciitis? When I deeply stretch my calf I feel a stinging in the very back of my heel, any ideas?
I found that you can stretch your calves like crazy but you need to make sure you are REALLY stretching your soleous (sp?). This usually requires a bent knee while doing your calf stretches.
Even then, my plantar f. didn’t go away until I got someone to work over my calf with deep tissue work. I spent every night on the frozen coke bottle and stretching but nothing made it stop until the massage. Stretching just won’t do the same thing as having a good PT or sports massage person go over the muscles of the calf, work on knots and strip them out a bit.
An ultramarathoner also told me that stretching is no substitute for getting someone to work on your calves and that it is the one part of an endurance athletes body on which they should spend the money to get some massage work done. Pamper those puppies.
Had the same type of heel pain a while back. My doctor diagnosed PF and told me to stretch the calf but also, importantly, not to walk barefoot, even from the bed to the bathroom he said. The impact of the heal of the hard floor causes further irratatation of the heel tendon.
So get a nice pair of supported sandles or something and don’t go barefoot while you give you heels a rest from running.
This website also has some good info:
1.) www.superfeet.com Get the green ones. Put them in your work shoes. Don’t run in them.
2.) Heelcord stretching.
3.) After 72 hours of the initial symptoms, use heat, not ice. It may get worse for a week (more bloodflow = more inflammation) but heat will ultimately improve the circulation. Ice won’t.
4.) New running shoes.
5.) Rest. 8 hours of sleep, plus a brief nap each afternoon you can (weekends?), will maximize your growth hormone production. Good for healing this type of problem.
Lastly: I tell patients that, out of 5 heel pain patients, 2 will get all better, 2 will get somewhat better, and 1 will not get better. This mostly applies to middle-aged women, not athletes. In general, refractory chronic inflammatory issues tend to burn themselves out in 18-24 months. I care for a lot of athletes, and I have seen guys need to take a year off from running to get this under control. So it’s a tough problem, but you should be able to get through it.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Aside from stretching and resting, I also had a golf ball at my desk, rolled it under my foot on and off for days. You can really feel the gunky fascia this way. That helped a huge amount.
But back of heel? could be a heel spur, but that usually takes years of injury to lead to… I say go to a good podiatrist.