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I have had a painful feeling under my right heel more to the inside (left) for several months now. I use a gel, innersole, which does provide relief. The painful feeling can sometimes be quite severe when I’m just sitting or lying down, for example. When I wear a shoe with a heel, the feeling is less painful. Is it a trace and are there things I could look out for and apply so that it heals on its own?
Linda
The complaints you have are indeed very similar to the so-called heel spurs. This causes irritation of the tendon leaf that runs on the underside of the foot. This tendon has its attachment to the heel bone. Hypertraction on this tendon can cause the tendon to become inflamed at the attachment point.
Sometimes there is indeed a heel spur. An extra piece of bone will be formed on the heel bone, at the level of the attachment. Whether you really have a trace or not is difficult to judge. For this you will have to have a photo taken of that foot to rule this out. However, this is usually not so important because the pain symptoms almost always come from the tendon.
It is difficult to cure these complaints yourself. There are stretching exercises that you can do to make the tendon more elastic (you can easily find these exercises on the internet). It also often helps to massage the painful area. (with a tennis ball or a bottle of water you can do this yourself).
However, this does not remove the cause of the complaints. The cause is often a hypertraction of the tendon. This often has to do with the position of the feet while walking. That is why it is very often used in people with these complaints arch supports Designed to reduce hypertraction while walking so that the tendon can recover.
If it bothers you a lot, I advise you to make an appointment without obligation with a podiatrist in your neighborhood. A podiatrist can then see whether it is effectively an inflammation of the tendon leaf and whether your problems can be solved with podiatric soles.
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