I have seen many cases of heel pain throughout the years that I have been practicing podiatry. One common theme that seems to continue as I receive new patients with heel-related issues, is that pain is an important signal that your body is telling your brain. Anytime you experience pain in the foot, ankle, or leg you must be observant and cautious of what your body is telling you; pain means something is not right. Very often with heel pain, patients think, “oh it's just a little heel pain, it'll eventually go away.” Usually it's something much worse, especially when the conditions persist over long periods of time. At Healtmark, we have seen patients who have neglected heel pain for weeks, months, and sometimes years just to find out that “just a little heel pain” turned into something much more serious. Heel pain can be something more serious than just plantar fasciitis, and we say that there is no such thing as your typical heel pain.
One textbook example where a patient underestimated the pain in their heel resulted in a serious tissue tear, view the case here.