Heel Pain Causes

Heel pain is a widespread complaint with several common causes. It is essential to accurately diagnose the cause of your symptoms so that appropriate treatment can be directed at the cause. If you have heel pain, some causes include:

Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. Plantar fasciitis is due to inflammation of the tight tissue on the foot's underside. It is responsible for forming the arch of the foot. Common symptoms of plantar fasciitis include heel pain with prolonged walking/standing, which is often worse in the morning.

Heel Spur Pain

A spur is commonly associated with chronic rather than acute plantar fasciitis. It is where the tissue on the underside of the foot solidifies at the heel, producing a sharp spur-like protuberance, which is noted on x-ray examination.

Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome

Tarsal tunnel syndrome causes a large nerve in the back of the foot to become entrapped or pinched. Like carpal tunnel syndrome in the hand, tarsal tunnel syndrome can cause heel pain.

 Fat pad Thinning (Atrophy)

The pad at the bottom of the heel can thin, reducing its ability to absorb impact. This absence of the shock absorber can lead to various secondary problems to the heel bone.

 Stress Fracture

Stress fractures of the calcaneus are uncommon. However, especially in athletes such as long-distance runners with heel pain should be considered. 

Posterior Heel Pain

Posterior heel pain causes symptoms behind the foot, rather than underneath. Posterior heel pain causes include Achilles tendonitis and retro-calcaneal (heel bone) bursitis.

Find out Which One You Have:

It is our job at the London Foot Pain Clinic to sort through these heel pain causes once we see you to establish the following:

• Very best treatments
• The likelihood of successful treatment options

Our first aim is to get this right and educate you on how it might have happened. This means that patients can make informed choices about the best treatments.

To start your diagnostic process, request a call back using the Contact Us page in the main menu.