I have a sharp pain the back of my heel when I stretch the hamstring in my right leg. I looked at the symptoms for Retrocalcaneal Bursitis, but the location doesn’t seem right. Achilles Tendonitis also does not seem correct, the pain is at the bottom/back of the heel not higher up where the achilles tendon attaches.
Plantar Fasciitis looks close, but the arch of my foot does not hurt, its only the very back tip of the heel and only when I extend my leg forwards with toes pointed up or during hamstring stretches. Thats the confusing part, is that normal for Plantar Fasciitis? or should I keep looking for a cause of the pain?
I used to get the same pain and I figured out for me that I was over striding when running. I slowly over time shortened my stride and never had the problem again and run much faster now as well. I hope that somewhat helps.
I’ve stopped running because the last thing I want is for it to get any worse, but I dont think running would hurt it, I just have to assume thats the cause of it since I’m not doing anything else right now training wise. Since the pain started I went ahead and got a new pair of shoes, my others were probably at that point where they needed replacing.
I’ve been trying to carefully stretch, but thats what also causes the pain so I’m not sure if i should be doing that or not. Seems like anything that makes me notice the pain is something I should avoid right?
Plantarus muscle/tendon maybe? It runs alongside the soleus all the way down to the inner part of the heel right alongside the achilles. It’s an unnecessary muscle (about 10% of people don’t even have it) but it’s a common source of niggly pain for runners and tennis players.
Could be something else though. I’ve heard that plantar fasciitis can sometimes cause pain along the back edge of the heel.
I take that back… I was seeing my PT at the time, and he said it was neural tension as noted above. Not sure how I didn’t remember that. He said likely it was the nerves getting bunched up in the hammy area, so he did a lot of deep tissue stuff. As I said, it worked its way out.
Nueral Tension eh, hmm, thats interesting. I have been getting some small shooting pains in that same hamstring while I sit in my car driving to work. Its a very minor pain but it is sharp and shooting. Did you ever experience anything like that as well? I don’t know if there is a connection but I just thought that maybe its related.