Heel pain and plantar fasciitis
- Do heel spurs need to be removed?
- How long does plantar fasciitis usually last?
- Is plantar fasciitis the same thing as a heel spur?
- What causes sharp heel pain with the first steps in the morning?
- When should heel pain be checked by a foot doctor?
- Which stretches ease plantar fasciitis pain?
- Can heel pain come from the back of the heel instead of the bottom?
- Why does the heel pad thin out with age?
"Usually" is the word most heel pain answers lean on, and it is also the word that gives the least. Cleveland Clinic's line on the subject reads: "Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain." "Most common" describes heel pain across many people. It does not say that your heel pain is plantar fasciitis, and a careful reader keeps those two apart.
Eight questions and the wording each one turns on
- Do heel spurs need to be removed? Turns on "need", and on who decides it.
- How long does plantar fasciitis usually last? Turns on "usually", and on the start date of the count.
- Is plantar fasciitis the same thing as a heel spur? Turns on whether two names point at one thing or two.
- What causes sharp heel pain with the first steps in the morning? Turns on the timing words in the description of the pain.
- When should heel pain be checked by a foot doctor? Turns on "should", and on what follows it in the sentence.
- Which stretches ease plantar fasciitis pain? Turns on "ease": for how long, and by how much.
- Can heel pain come from the back of the heel instead of the bottom? Turns on the location words: back, bottom or side.
- Why does the heel pad thin out with age? Turns on "with age", and from which age.
What the eight have in common
The eight answers share a dependence on location and timing. Where the pain sits and when it shows up decide which sentence applies to you, so a description that drops either one has dropped part of its own terms.
When treatments come up, Itasca readers can compare an open label randomized clinical trial of focused shock wave therapy for plantar fasciitis, a systematic review of physiotherapeutic interventions for plantar fasciitis, and a meta-analysis of randomized trials of extracorporeal shock wave therapy, all on PubMed Central (NCBI), and the methods section of each is worth reading before the headline.
A neighboring group where the wording overlaps
"When should heel pain be checked" shares its verb with the question of how often a foot exam is due for someone with diabetes. Both turn on a "should" that needs a number or a sign beside it. Those questions are collected under diabetic foot care.