Bruised Heel Bone Treatment

Bruised Heel Bone Treatment: A bruised heel can happen due to a big fall or even a light awkward fall. Check if there is damage to the fat pad!

Heel Feels Bruised:

Two Major Causes:

1) A bruised heel is usually caused by severe trauma:

• This is usually a fall with the front of your foot pointed up.
• This fall can magnify your body weight by 5-6x.
• So if you weigh 200 pounds, that’s over 1,000lbs pounds of force.
• The only think protecting your heel bone from breaking apart is about 1 cm of fat pad!
• Both the fat pad & the heel can become bruised.
• A bone bruise is also possible!

• The fat pad can even herniate out into the skin.

2)Constant repetitive pounding on your heel:

• Even running on your heel in poor shoes can magnify your weight by 2-3x with each step.
• That is 2-3x your weight per heel for 1,000s of steps.
• Your fat pad can become bruised and sore just like any other part of your pody.
• Both the fat pad & the heel can become bruised.
• A bone bruise is also possible!
• The fat pad can even herniate out into the skin.

Bruised Heel Symptoms:

• Sore heel.
• Especially if you push at the center from the bottom with your thumb.
• Possibly herniated fat pad into the other edges of skin around your heel.
• It hurts to walk barefoot on a hard surface.
• Redness, swelling & bruising.

Bruised Heel Recovery Time:

• A bruised heel will usually take 1-3 weeks to recover.
• This can be increased with shock absorption
• If the bone is bruised as well it can take 2-6 weeks to feel better.
• If there is still severe pain after a few days or a week, consider a stress fracture or calcaneus fracture.
• It is possible to increased the bruised heel recovery time with PRICE therapy (mentioned below).

How To Heal A Bruised Heel:

The goals of bruised heel treatment are:

• To protect the injury from getting worse.
• To decrease the inflammation.
• To allow healing to start earlier.
• To make sure nothing worse is wrong!

Bruised Heel Bone Treatment:

1)Offload the heel:

• Resting does not always mean relaxing on the coach.
• But maybe try swimming or biking instead of running for a couple days.
• The bruise gets better in a hurry if you give it time to heal!

2)Ice & elevate the heel.

• Icing is key to faster healing!
• 2-3x per day for about 15-20 minutes will decrease the flow of inflammatory cells into the muscle.
• Afterwards the arteries will vasodilate further flushing out inflammatory cells from the region.
• Ice has deeper penetrating power than heat.
• Do not use heat immediately after the injury!

3)Topical anti-inflammation creams:

• There are anti-inflammatory creams that can be prescribed by your podiatrist that can decrease the inflammation and speed up your healing time.
• Capsaicin & Voltaren gel works great.
• Biofreeze or anything with menthol in it.

4)Oral anti-inflammation:

• These include Ibuprofen & Aspirin.
• This can be over the counter or prescription.
• Do not take these unless instructed to do so by your physician or podiatrist.
• Take a 1-2 week course to attempt to decrease the inflammation and speed up your healing time.
• Take 2-3x doses per day as instructed, this builds up anti-inflammatory enzyme levels in your system.
• Taking just 1-2 pills and then stopping does nothing for inflammation!

5)Get new shoes:

• Shoes have a max life of 300 of so miles.
• There are built more flexible & lighter than ever.
• This means they need to be replaced more often than ever.
• Great business model, but get some new shoes with cushioning!

Other Causes of Bruised Heel Pain:

These are the most common other types of bottom of the heel pain.

1) Bottom Of The Heel Pain:

Plantar Fasciitis:

• This is the most common source of heel and arch pain.
• It is worse in the morning & better with massage.
• This Includes heel spur treatment.

Foot Fat Pad Atrophy:

• If it feels like you do not have any fat pad cushion in your heel.

Heel Stress Fracture:

• This gradually onsets in high activity people starting a new activity.
• It presents over days and weeks as an aching deep heel pain.

Posterior Tibial Nerve Entrapment:

• The posterior tibial nerve runs along the back and inside of the ankle.
• You will feel numbness, burning and tingling.

Bruised Heel:

• This happens after long running or a big fall.

Stone Bruise:

• This is a deep contusion after stepping on a stone.

2) Bottom Of The Foot Arch Pain:

Plantar Fasciitis:

• This is the most common source of heel and arch pain.
• It is worse in the morning & better with massage.

Plantar Fibroma:

• This is a bump anywhere along your arch. It could be one or multiple.
• This feels like a pebble under your skin.

Sprained Foot Arch:

• This can happen when you fall violently.
• There may be swelling and bruising in the midfoot.

Posterior Tibial Nerve Entrapment:

• The posterior tibial nerve runs along the back and inside of the ankle.
• You will feel numbness, burning and tingling.

Plantar Fascia Strain:

• If you have severe pain in your arch after a fall or injury.

Foot Cramps At Night:

•  Foot cramps are the most common muscle spasm in our body.

Ball Of The Foot Pain:

Foot Fat Pad Atrophy:

• If it feels like you do not have any fat pad cushion in the ball of your foot.

Sprained Ball Of Foot:

• This can happen when you fall violently.
• There may be swelling and bruising big toe joint.

Foot Cramps At Night:

•  Foot cramps are the most common muscle spasm in our body.

Stone Bruise:

• This is a deep contusion after stepping on a stone.

Many More:

• Bent Big Toe.

• Straight Big Toe .

• Pain in Small Toes (2-4th Toes).

• Sprained Big Toe (Turf Toe).

• The Ball of Your Foot.

• Ball of the Foot-Second Toe.

• Little Toe (5th Toe).

• The Outside of the Foot.

• Top of the Foot Pain.

• Foot Arthritis.

• Toe Cramps Or Spasms.

• Long Second Toe.