Causes of Heel Pain
Common causes
of heel pain include
arthritis, tarsal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, stress fractures,
entrapment of the lateral plantar nerve, sever's
disease and of course
plantar fasciitis.
Sciatica
pain can be felt down the leg
and into heel of your foot. Sciatica pain symptoms may be
caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of
five nerve roots that give rise to the sciatic nerve, or by
compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve itself.
Lateral Plantar Nerve Entrapment: A squeezing
or squishing of the lateral plantar nerve. This nerve
passes through the tarsal tunnel between the abductor
hallusis muscle and the quadratus planus muscle. Entrapment
of this nerve causes pain in under the heel on the inside
(medial aspect) and up into the inside of the ankle.
Sever's disease (also called calcaneal apophysitis)
is the most common cause of heel pain in children (7-10
years) and teenagers (12-15 years). Pain is caused by
repetitive stresses to the growth plates of the heel bone. |
Diagram showing the location of where most people complain of heel
pain
 |