Heel and Foot Pains

It’s strange how we often take for granted those parts of our body that seem to do most of the hard work. Do you ever think of your feet unless they hurt? When they do hurt we slough it off and think it is only temporary and will soon go away. However, foot pain can cause a lot of other problems. When your feet are ignored when they hurt you automatically find yourself adjusting your gait to compensate for the pain. When you do this, you are not just adjusting the gait, you are also changing the position of your hips and back and they then begin to hurt as well.

Not too long ago I had occasion to talk to a woman and she told me she suffered from terrible heel pain. The doctor told her the pain was caused by her fallen arches and explained that fallen arches was another name for flat feet. You can tell when you have flat feet because the sole of your foot will become flat on the ground when you are standing - fallen arches. She told me that her doctor recommended insoles and they helped relieve the pain in the heel as the foot went back to its natural position.

There was another incident where I met a gentleman that was upset because he had to stop jogging and he loved jogging. He said he has a condition the doctor called plantar’s fasciitis. The plantar’s fasciitis is a band of tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot connecting the heel to the toe. It was very painful and seemed to worse when he woke in the morning. He further found out that this condition usually affects runners. It will generally only occur in one foot; however, it can also occur in both feet simultaneously. He was glad to hear that he did not have any heel spurs but, heel spurs do not cause heel pain as it was once thought.

If you have pain in your feet or your heel treat it as you would any other pain because, it can become serious. See your doctor or other health professional and be fitted for orthotic shoe inserts and feel better. No matter what age you are, take good care of your feet and you will be pain free.