thefootpeople-blog

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Heel Pain (Plantarfasciitis)

Heel pain can be a debilitating complaint stopping you carrying out the activities you want to do.

Causes of heel pain.

It can be brought on by simply walking or standing for a longer time than you normally do, for example if you’ve been on a city break or you’ve done a walk for charity, etc.

If you’re a runner and you’ve recently increased your mileage to do a park run, a marathon or even an ultramarathon then unprepared tissues can be stressed and cause the pain.

Carrying extra weight also puts greater loads and stresses on the body and ultimately down to the feet which can lead to heel pain.

Many people in an attempt to loose weight use exercise to help which once again can lead to developing heel pain.

The term Plantar Fasciitis is often used to describe Heel Pain but the plantar fascia is only one structure within the complex anatomy of the foot. There are over forty reasons why you could get heel pain.

Let’s start with the bones and in particular the heel bone this can be damaged by landing incorrectly and possibly fracturing it.

Severs disease, which is usually found in children, is an inflammation of the growth plate in the heel which can of course cause the pain.

All our bones are held together by ligaments and if any of these are over stressed then this again can be the cause of the pain.

The base of the foot has several layers of muscles and any damage or over stressing of these can cause heel pain.

Connecting our muscles to the bones we have the tendons and again if these are over stressed this will result in pain.

All of these structures are controlled by our nerves and if any of these are impinged, such as the Baxter’s nerve which runs down the outside of the foot and under the heel, this can also lead to heel pain.

Impingement of nerves in the lower back can also cause heel pain.

What can we do about it?

It is imperative that a correct diagnosis is made of where the pain is coming from. Your local Podiatrist can help you with this.

Once the correct diagnosis has been made then a treatment plan will be formulated.

What will the treatment consist of?

After a full history of the complaint has been taken further assessments will be carried out. This will then inform and guide your treatment plan.

Typical treatments may consist of one or more of the following.

Plantar fascial taping

The use of taping can support the foot and prevent stretching which reduces the stress on the structures along the length of the foot which in turn prevents overloading of the injured area and therefore allows time for recovery.

If strapping is successful in reducing the pain then this can be a good indicator that orthoses will be of benefit in the medium to long term.

Stretching and Exercises

A typical plan might include: Stretching and flexibility exercises to help the tendon heal completely and avoid long-term pain. Strengthening exercises to help you rebuild tendon strength and avoid future injuries will also be given.

Orthoses (if required)

Orthoses (insoles) are not always required in the treatment of heel pain.

No two people are ever the same so an individual treatment plan will be formulated after the initial assessment. If orthoses are indicated then the options will be discussed at this point.

Assess the outcomes and tweak or add further treatment.

Once the treatment plan has been finalised then feedback is essential to ensure the best possible outcome, therefore we will book you in for a review and discuss how you are progressing.

At this stage we will assess your progress and either tweak or increase the intensity of your treatment.

Follow up with strengthening to prevent future problems.

Strength testing will be carried out and appropriate exercises will be given where any imbalances are found to allow better functioning of joints and muscles. This may reduce the chances of the injury reoccurring.

Start your journey to pain free heels today.

Click the link below to find out more and see some exercises to help you heal yourself.

http://www.thefootpeople.co.uk/heelpain.html

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Mobilisation of the foot.

Our most recent addition to the practice is mobilisation of the foot joints.

We attended a two day course on the subject back in July.

The course was intense but thoroughly enjoyable and we met with a fantastic group of likeminded podiatrists.

Mobilisation of the foot joints can help with various conditions, everything from hammertoes and plantar fasciitis to sports injury rehabilitation and everything in between.

Since the course we have both had successes, making our patients feel more comfortable and thus helping them continue with their everyday activities.

We enjoyed it so much and, the benefits for our patients have been so great that we have enrolled on the follow up course of ankle joint mobilisation.

For further details or questions please contact us at info@thefootpeople.co.uk.

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Towards the end of June we met up with an intimate group of likeminded podiatrists for a course called Work Smarter Not Harder. We learned that we all lacked confidence and were beginning to feel deskilled. We took part in some icebreakers and team building exercises to help us break down our negative mindsets. We also learned the importance of systemising the business to allow it to run more smoothly. By the end of the day we were all feeling much more confident and raring to go back to our businesses to implement changes to benefit our patients.

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COPA CONFERENCE AT LONDON EXCEL. Fantastic 2 days at COPA2018. Good networking, great learning and catching up. #podsfixfeet #podiatry #podiatrist #proudtobeapod #conference (at ExCeL London)

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The Importance of Your Medical History.

We know you are fed up of being asked the same questions every time you see a medical practitioner and you can’t see the relevance of it all when you come to see us as ‘it’s just my feet’ or it’s ‘just a nail cut’.

We’d just like to share this case study from a new patient we saw last month which may help you to understand.

The patient arrived at clinic and we asked him to fill in the registration forms, which include medical history and medications taken.

The patients only complaint was that his feet were tender.

He said ‘My feet really feel weird, they are very tender, I can’t walk as far as I used to. I know I’m getting on a bit but I could walk about 6 miles and now I can’t do 600 yards.’

On examination of the feet there was nothing remarkable, no visible problems, but on chatting we discovered that the problem may have started just after he had started a new tablet for high blood pressure.

Kath checked the side effects of this drug, ones relevant to the skin and feet were listed as;

Numbness in the feet or hands

Muscle pain

Swelling of the hands, ankles or feet and

Bilstering or peeling of the skin.

On further discussion with the patient we decided that yes the sensations he was having in his feet could be numbness and the sensation in his feet was tested.

It turned out that he was unable to feel any light touch in his feet from the ankles downwards.

The patient was duly dispatched back to his GP for further tests.

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Casting Course at Salts Techstep

We attended the casting course at Salts Techstep in conjunction with Osgo Healthcare.

The morning session was an overview and revision of casting techniques available as well as an introduction to 3D scanning technology. We all got to have a practice with the foam box casting and Liza, the lecturer, demonstrated plaster of Paris casting.

After lunch we were given a tour of the factory showing us how the foam boxes are transformed into the finished insole, using Computer aided design and hi tech cutting machinery.

Back in the lecture theatre we were taken through how to get the most from our prescriptions with the help of Andy, the technician at Salts, followed by a question and answer session.

The course was very interesting and enjoyable and will help us to improve our prescription and casting techniques when ordering insoles from Salts and ultimately improve treatment outcomes for our patients.