Sore heels can be the result of many factors--trauma, overuse, obesity, disease conditions and heredity, to name some. They can contribute to ineffective exercise routines and lost work days. The mere act of walking can be significantly altered when your heels hurt.
Sever's Disease
Sever's disease is more a condition than a disease. It's prevalent in children during their growth years when growth plates of the heel bones are still open and growing new bone layers. It's typically the result of overuse--as experienced in athletics that involve running, jumping and repetitive pulling or traction exerted by the Achilles tendon upon the calcaneal (heel bone) apophysis (growth plate). This results in chronic, painful inflammation.
Pain is predominately over the back of the heel bones, and can disrupt the ability to walk if symptoms are severe enough.
Haglund's Deformity
Haglund's Deformity refers to a bony prominence of the posterior/superior (backside and top of) aspect of the calcaneus (heel bone). This prominence can occur unilaterally (on only one heel) or bilaterally (both heels). This prominence often contributes to chronic inflammation of a bursa sac located over the top of the prominence called the retro-calcaneal bursa. In turn, this can also be responsible for the development of achilles tendonitis as a result of chronic pressure from the bone and bursitis.
Women are more prone to developing these symptoms, primarily due to shoe wear with rigid heels and/or heel counters.
Plantar Fasciitis
Plantar is often associated with, and at times mistaken for, heel spurs.
Quite often, both are present simultaneously, and one can have plantar fasciitis without actually having spurs.
Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the band of tissue, the plantar fascia, that helps make up the arch of the foot. The inflammation is typically located where the tissue attaches to the under-surface of the heel and frequently involves microscopic injury of the tissue, which sets up the inflammatory response. Plantar facsiitis can be caused by the presence of the spur or by excessive barefoot walking, running and jumping activities.
Obesity
Obesity can be a significant causative factor in heel pain. Chronic obesity can contribute to the gradual loss of the protective fat pad located at the bottom of the heel, exposing the under-surface of the calcaneus (heel bone) to direct and repetitive pressure from walking and weight bearing. This repetitive action can cause painful bruising of the periosteum (membraneous covering of the bone), spurs and plantar fasciitis. The feet and ankles carry the lion's share of our body weight with every step we take.
Studies have shown that for every pound of weight loss, there is a 1:4 reduction of forces upon the lower extremities such as knees and ankles. That means for every pound of weight you lose, you lighten the load on your feet, ankles and knees by 4 lbs.
