Your feet are the foundation to your body—though most of us take them for granted. Usually, we all but neglect them until, one day, we find ourselves in pain. And that’s when we finally start paying attention to our feet and ankles.
If you are living with arch or heel pain, then you already know that it can keep you from being active. Maybe you can’t perform as well in your kickboxing class, or maybe household chores become more difficult to complete. But whatever your case, you shouldn’t let painful feet keep you from living your life to the fullest.
That’s what we’re here for!
At Southern Oregon Foot & Ankle, we help you with any foot and ankle problems you may be experiencing. When you have pain and discomfort in either your arches or heels, we accurately diagnose and effectively treat the condition so that you can get back to doing the things you love.
What Causes Heel and Arch Pain?
There are numerous conditions that could be causing your heel or arch to hurt. Here are some of the most common underlying issues that may be keeping your feet from feeling their best:
Achilles Tendinitis
This consists of inflammation, swelling, and tightening in your Achilles tendon. It pulls on the back of your heel and can create pain and biomechanical difficulties.
Common symptoms: stiffness, swelling, and tenderness, as well as pain above the heel and back of the foot, especially when stretching the ankle or standing on the toes.
Bone Spurs
These are hard bumps that develop when a bone is under heavy pressure and friction. Often, these appear on the bottom and back of the heel bone.
Common symptoms: difficulty walking, pain, numbness, tenderness, and swelling of the heel.
Trauma
There are many injuries that can cause your heels and arches to hurt. The most common of these are stress fractures. Stress fractures are tiny breaks in the bone which result from repetitive stress and impacts on the feet, like running.
Common symptoms: pain, swelling, difficulty walking, tenderness, stiffness, and discomfort that keep you from performing daily activities.
Plantar Fasciitis
This very common condition usually arises when undue stress is placed on the band in your foot that supports your arch—the “plantar fascia.”
Common symptoms: often a sharp pain is felt when you first get up in the morning or after sitting for long periods of time; stabbing pain in the bottom of the foot near the heel.
There are many reasons why your heels and arches may be giving you grief, but keep in mind that this list is not meant to help you diagnose the issue at home. Self-diagnosing could mean spending time and money treating the wrong symptoms, which only leaves room for the condition to become worse—or even chronic.
The best thing to do is visit us at our Southern Oregon Foot & Ankle office right away!
Treatments for Heel and Arch Pain
The sooner you seek proper diagnosis and treatment, the better your chances are of getting the relief you need as quickly and as safely as possible.
When you come to visit our Southern Oregon office, we will perform a thorough evaluation to determine the specific issue that is causing your discomfort. Based on what we find, we can then provide the best treatment options available to get you back on your feet.
The specific treatment for your heel or arch pain will, of course, depend on the condition affecting your feet. We may recommend one or more of the treatment steps below:
- Physical therapy
- Changes in footwear
- Custom orthotics
- Changes in physical activities
- RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation)
- Medication
We hope that you never have to experience any of these conditions in the first place, but you can rest assured that we will be here for you if do.