Your heels bear a tremendous amount of pressure every day, supporting your body weight when you stand and walk. It’s hardly surprising, then, that heel pain is a common problem.

Your heel bone (calcaneus) supports your weight and distributes it across your foot. Soft tissues like muscles, tendons, and ligaments that help shape and move your foot attach to the calcaneus. Damage or deterioration of these bones or soft tissues can lead to heel pain.

Symptoms of heel pain differ depending on the cause. For example, the pain might occur suddenly or develop gradually, and you may have other symptoms, like swelling and red or thickened skin.

Heel pain may result from a variety of causes, including:

• Wearing the wrong type of shoes
• Achilles tendon injuries
• Hindfoot fractures
• Arthritis
• Bone spurs
• Stress fractures
• Bursitis
• Plantar fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most likely causes of pain on the bottom of your heel. It arises when inflammation develops in the plantar fascia – a strip of connective tissue that runs from your heel to your toes.

High impact forces from auto accidents, falls from height, and increasingly commonly snowboarding are the leading causes of heel fractures.

To diagnose your heel pain, your podiatrist reviews your medical history and examines your heel. They also take X-rays to check for abnormal bone growth (heel spurs).

Fortunately, most patients with heel pain don’t require surgery. The Innovation Medical Group team tailors your treatment based on the cause and extent of your condition, but standard approaches include:

• Rest
• Well-fitting, supportive shoes
• Orthotics (sole inserts)
• Physical therapy
• Pain relievers
• Steroid injections

If these treatments don’t improve your symptoms, your provider at Innovation Medical Group may recommend surgery. You might require surgery sooner if you have a fractured foot.

Surgery helps relieve your heel pain in several ways. It can remove the source of nerve compression and any abnormal bone growth and repair tendon damage. Innovation Medical Group performs most surgeries for heel pain as outpatient procedures so you can go home the same day.

Following surgery for heel pain, you need to participate in a physical therapy program to regain your strength and range of motion. In addition, your podiatrist might prescribe orthopedic shoes or customized shoe inserts (orthotics) to aid your recovery.