UKC

About 2 weeks ago I started getting a sharp pain in the sole of my left heel. It feels as though there is something embedded in it like a tiny shard of glass and the pain feels intense when I weight it. It's also similar to the pain caused by a verruca but close inspection has revealed nothing there and no foreign body. It seems to be getting worse and is now affecting my walking.

I am due to go on a long distance walking holiday over Christmas in the Canary Islands and am concerned that it may affect this.

Friends have suggested resting it, but this is easier said than done as it's impossible to avoid walking! Also I'm concerned about losing my level of fitness before I go.

Any suggestions as to what may be causing it? Solutions/cures? Should I see my GP or go to a Chiropodist?

In reply to Trangia:

SWMBO is a podiatrist. She suggests getting yourself seen by a pod. ASAP. You could do this the long way, via your GP, or alternatively go direct to a private pod. (but make sure they are HPC registered). FYI, SWMBO charges £35 for initial consultation and £25 per treatment session thereafter (Cornish prices). Probably cost a bit more 'up country'.

N

In reply to cousin nick:

Very many thanks for that. I've made an appointment with Chiropodist for Tuesday. She is HPC Registered.

In reply to Trangia:

I had very similar about 18 months ago, felt like I had a drawing pin in my shoe underneath my heel.
I saw GP who immediately diagnosed it as Plantar Fasciitis. I was prescribed strong anti-inflammatories and suggested exercises designed to stretch the tendon that runs along the sole of the foot. The tablets eased the pain to a certain extent, but the condition persisted for about 6 months after which it disappeared completely!

In reply to Trangia:

I'm not a podiatrist but it sounds like plantar fasciitis to me too. One thing that has helped me is rolling one of those spiky massage balls underfoot. Hope you get it sorted soon!

In reply to Tall Clare:


yes, I used a rolling pin

In reply to Tall Clare:

Sounds LIKE PF.

The treatments for it variesso much from Person to person. Rolling things under mine didn't help me for my it was painkillers and stretching ( the pf and calves)

In reply to Trangia:

This seems to be a rather bizarre and mysterious ailment for which unfortunately there's no very well established treatment. About six weeks ago I'd quite a bad episode out of the blue, without apparent cause. I had particularly sharp pain under my left heel when I first got out of bed, or when I stood up after sitting for a while, which seems to be diagnostic. The good news is that without me doing anything particular to treat it, except find various mostly unreassuring gobbets of information via Google, it now seems to have gone away - permanently I hope. With any luck the same will happen to you ...

In reply to Tall Clare: Totally agree with you on the diagnosis.
This bugged me for over a year and my Podiatrist came up with one answer, Diabetes nurse another, neither treatment worked but my GP correctly identified the problem.
I had a cortisone injection, painfull but worth it and I'm well on the mend. Not a 100% but around 80% and it takes a few weeks.
It doesn't work for everyone, nor forever but it's working for me at present.

In reply to all:

Thanks for the comments. I've seen a chiropodist, no obvious sign of a verruca and she suspects a seed corn. Had a lot of hard skin scraped off by her and now wearing a padded support to take pressure off the location. She says it's now a matter of time, but I need to use an emery board every morning to scrape off dead and hard skin. For belt and braces she's also prescribed a powerful anti verruca gel in case there is a tiny one lurking deep down. Whilst she can't entirely rule out PF, she thinks it's unlikely given the location of the pain near the back of the heel.

Need to wait and see how it goes now.

Thanks again all.

In reply to Trangia:

Now your chiro has ruled out PF, more or less, I'll add that I had what sounds like similar heel pain which was brought on by several days on hard stony surfaces with insufficient padding in my boot insoles. I too thought 'PF', but a helpful guy in my local running shop suggested it was inflammation of the cartilagenous pad beneath the heel bone. I was careful to put as little weight on it as possible for 10 days or so, and wearing well-padded shoes when I had to walk, and it cleared up without any further treatment.

Hope you're as fortunate!

In reply to Trangia:

Chiropodist are the best for me, because everything is now working great and I am looking forward for my amazing recover.