Heel pain will not go away

bump.

Im having a similar issue. Does it force you to walk kind of duck footed (toe out) on that side to avoid pain?

Hoping (praying) that its not a stress fracture.

Yes it does. I’m questioning stress fracture because I’ve barely been running much at all and although it is slightly tender to touch, I only feel it during toe off. Impact doesn’t hurt it. It is also at its worst in the morning.

Sounds related to PF...

What I find helps me, is lots more running on trails. I actually feel better after that, than taking a day off, maybe it's because all the different variations in ground help stretch out the fascia. Start off slow with any runs as well, take at least a mile or two to get warmed up.

Also I find vitamin D helps a lot.

Others find eccentric heel drops can help, I'm not convinced with that, but some folk swear by it.

My heels always bothered me until I learned to give my calves some attention. Roll and self massage daily and I haven’t had a heel problem since.

Maybe..... wrote:

Sounds related to PF...

What I find helps me, is lots more running on trails. I actually feel better after that, than taking a day off, maybe it's because all the different variations in ground help stretch out the fascia. Start off slow with any runs as well, take at least a mile or two to get warmed up.

Also I find vitamin D helps a lot.

Others find eccentric heel drops can help, I'm not convinced with that, but some folk swear by it.

How does vitamin D help?

Thanks.

It's PF. Very common to feel that pain as you toe off. Stretch and massage your calves every morning, ice and massage at night. Also make sure to warm up very well or at least walk around before running in the morning. This happens often when you have a period of not training at all or well and then jump into workouts.

Back of the heel? Where the Achilles attaches? Could be achilles tendinosus/tendonitis as well.

Probably plantar fasciitis. Get onto calf raises with the big toe in extension. Start some foot doming and 'toe yoga'. Slowly build mileage to enable plantar fascia to adapt to load.

PF is an overuse injury. How could it be from overuse when I’m barely running and just got back to running?

Exactly your problem. Have a look at acute to chronic training loads from Tim Gabbet and you will get your answer.

You can't just rest. It is not good. It pushes you back because your chronic training load causes tissue adaption in a negative way. Then when you try and get back into running, you flare up as your tissues aren't yet adapted to the load.

What was your injury that kept you out for 3.5months?

This sounds like your issue. Too long off, your tissues aren't adapted to running - you return to running (potentially doing too much too soon) and your plantar fascia can't handle or isn't adapted to the load and gets irritated.

I’m not sure I was building up too fast. Before my 3.5 month injury I was running 50 mpw and then when I came back I started at 5 min intervals of running. First week I only went 3 times a week and 2 5 min intervals per run. I built up to about 16 miles over the course of 3 weeks and then the pain started. I took 9 days off after running through it twice and was pain free for several days before my first run back. When I came back I did 30 minute runs of a bout 4-4.5 miles each every other day and it came back my third run back. So should I continue to run through it? All the times I have tried to run through it I could barely walk after because my heel hurt so much.

The 'how' I'm not an expert, so not going to try and blag that one, it's more anecdotal that I've noticed over time. I take vit D every so often, and noticing an association how it feels better when I take it (it's not cured it, but I'd say my lasted spell I've been on it about 2 weeks, and it's about 50% of where it was.

Also if you poke about, there is other anecdotal evidence that it could be related in some cases...eg

https://jefftbowles.com/vitamin-d3-case-study-3-plantar-fasciitis-of-3-years-completely-cured-in-2-weeks-04/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2858539/

https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/02/frustrations-vitamin-d-treatments

etc. I suspect it's more a case of vit d may help if there is a deficiency, rather than it fixing it if there's not, but again I'm not sure.

The reason I made this link was I was on a drug previously (isotretinoin) that causes vit-d deficiency. This was before I was a runner. Every time I took it, I would get heel pain (people normally think its bone spurs on the heel). When I stopped, the heel pain stopped. It was only later than I'm putting 2 and 2 together and now randomly as I'm taking vit d again, it's improving.

Like I said, I'm not an expert, this is only anecdotal, but it would definitely be interesting for any other runners to try vit d and see if it helps at all or not. It's not a big deal to try at least.

Good luck with it.

Thank you for all the information.

I agree with the posters saying that coming back from time off, even a low level of training can produce "overuse" injuries because tendons need time to re-adapt to training stresses. I'm not a PT, but here are my additional thoughts.

1) A shoe with a stiffer forefoot might help reduce flexion of the big toe, which in turn is stretching the PF. I NEVER wear shoes that flex a lot in the big toe area due to chronic big toe/PF problems.

2) There are two opposing approaches to treating PF... additional support and strengthening. In the early stage, you need support. I routinely build up the arch under my inserts using 1.5x2" pieces of overlapping crafts felt. It's a bit of an art to get right, but it's like making your own orthotics once you get it down. The additional support keeps the plantar fascia from stretching as much. Even with regular arch strengthening exercises, I still find that I need arch support. For others, arch support needs to be only temporary. You'll have to decide for yourself on that.

2a) The best approach for a beginner is to build up the area under the arch until it feels like a tennis ball under the arch. Then, remove enough felt until you feel support, but no hot spots of pressure and it no longer feels like a tennis ball under foot. If you feel a hot spot, remove some felt from that spot.

3) Since your problem is mostly felt in the heel, you should consider a heel lift until the injury heals. Again, you can do this with crafts felt under the heel on the bottom side of the insert. You won't need much... one-eighth of an inch should be noticeable. If it doesn't help, try a quarter inch.

Are you sure this is PF? The pain is localized to one area. The lateral outside of my heel. I feel it when I push off my big toe. Single leg Calf raises make it feel better. There also is a spot that is particularly tender.

ForefootRunner177 wrote:

Are you sure this is PF? The pain is localized to one area. The lateral outside of my heel. I feel it when I push off my big toe. Single leg Calf raises make it feel better. There also is a spot that is particularly tender.

Sounds like PF to me.

None of us can be 100% sure, and I doubt even if you went to a doc or physio they would be (I would suggest going to a physio if it persists though to rule stuff out), but it sounds quite like PF.

Has anyone ever tried the support socks that available for PF?

If so, what’s the verdict?