Every guide
All Heel Guide articles
Everything on this site in one place. If you do not yet know which problem you have, start with the diagnostic guide at the top — the rest of the site assumes you have narrowed it down.
Start here
Work out what you have
Six conditions cause most heel pain, and they hurt in different places, at different times of day, in different patterns. A map from where it hurts to what it probably is.
Decide whether to worry
Which heel pain needs seeing today, which needs seeing this week, and which is safe to treat at home. Sorted by urgency rather than by diagnosis.
Not sure? Take the quiz
Four questions, starting with the warning signs, then the likely cause and the guide that matches it. About a minute.
Start the 14-day plan
Dr. Tom’s plan for plantar fasciitis, in the order he gives it in clinic: what to do tonight, five moves with photos, and a tracker. Free, no sign-up.
The conditions
Plantar fasciitis
Why the first step of the day hurts, how to recognise it, how long recovery honestly takes, and what to do in the first eight weeks.
Achilles tendonitis
Back-of-heel pain has two versions, and the heel-drop exercise that fixes one aggravates the other. How to tell them apart.
Insertional Achilles tendonitis
Pain right on the heel bone where the tendon attaches. Why the usual stretches make it worse, what settles it, and what the newest trials say about shockwave.
Achilles tendon rupture
A pop, a feeling of being kicked, then a weak push-off. Why walking does not rule it out, the squeeze test, and what the trials found on boot versus surgery.
Heel spurs
A spur records traction on the heel bone; it is not usually the source of the pain. What the evidence actually shows.
Heel bursitis
Two separate bursae sit at the back of the heel and respond to different treatment — and the usual calf stretch makes one of them worse.
Heel fat pad atrophy
A deep, bruise-like ache in the middle of the heel, much worse barefoot on a hard floor and with no sharp morning spike. The cushion has thinned, not the fascia.
Bruised heel
A stone bruise of the fat pad or a bruise inside the heel bone: how to tell them from the look-alikes, and why one settles in weeks and the other can take months.
Burning heel pain
Burning, tingling or electric rather than aching, and worse the longer you stand. That pattern points at a trapped nerve, not the plantar fascia.
Heel stress fracture
Deep heel pain that builds through activity instead of warming up, and is sore when the heel is squeezed side to side. The one you should not push through.
Sever’s disease
Heel pain in an active child between roughly eight and fourteen. An irritated growth plate rather than an injury, and it ends when the plate closes.
Haglund’s deformity
The bony bump at the back of the heel. Rarely the bump itself that hurts — it is what it gets pressed against, and the heel counter of your shoe usually decides that.
Heel pain in the morning
Why the first steps out of bed are the worst, what that pattern rules in, and the one version of it that belongs to rheumatology.
Plantar fasciitis vs heel spurs
Your X-ray shows a spur. Why it is almost certainly not what hurts, and what to treat instead.
Tarsal tunnel syndrome
Burning, tingling or numbness across the sole and inner heel — nerve compression behind the inner ankle.
Heel pain in both heels
When heel pain is inflammatory rather than mechanical — and why the referral is to a rheumatologist.
Heel pain after running
Running produces several different heel problems, and they need opposite responses. One you can train around; one means stopping today.
Heel pain in pregnancy
Weight, ligament laxity and a changing arch — with the usual first-line medication off the table. What helps, and what needs urgent review.
Back of heel pain
Achilles, a bursa, a Haglund’s bump or, in a child, Sever’s disease. How to tell which from where it hurts, and when to be seen quickly.
Side of heel pain
Inside or outside the heel? The inner side is mostly nerves and the plantar fascia; the outer side is mostly the peroneal tendons, and sometimes a fracture missed as a sprain.
Sudden heel pain
Heel pain that came from nowhere, with no injury. The usual causes, three checks you can do yourself, and the signs that mean it cannot wait.
Plantar fascia tear
A pop under the heel or arch, then bruising. How a tear differs from plantar fasciitis, why it needs a boot rather than stretches, and how long recovery takes.
Heel and ankle pain
Can plantar fasciitis cause ankle, knee or side-of-foot pain? What links them, and when the ankle has its own problem.
Cracked heels
Why heel skin splits, the daily routine that closes most fissures within weeks, which cream ingredients work, and when a crack needs a professional.
Treatment
The treatment ladder
A stepwise plan: the first three months that fix most cases, what injections and shockwave really offer, and what is not worth your money.
The first week
Can plantar fasciitis be cured in a week? No, but a well-run week takes the edge off the first steps. A day-by-day plan, and what weeks two to twelve look like.
Plantar fasciitis exercises
The stretch, the high-load heel raise and the calf work — with the dose, tempo and progression that decide whether they do anything at all.
When surgery is on the table
Most plantar fasciitis never needs an operation. The real threshold for surgery, what each procedure does, and the questions to ask first.
How long it lasts
The realistic timeline, why some cases run for years, and what genuinely shortens it.
Cortisone shots
A steroid injection is the fastest way to quieten a painful heel and it is not a cure. What it buys you, how long that lasts, and the two risks worth knowing first.
Shockwave therapy
One of the best-studied options for heel pain that has outlasted three months of proper treatment: who it helps, what the trials show, and what a course is like.
Laser therapy
A painless add-on that eases heel pain in the short term. Low-level versus high-intensity laser, what the trials show, and how it compares with shockwave.
PRP injections
An injection of your own platelets for heel pain that has outlasted the basics. Slower than a cortisone shot, but in most trials the benefit lasts longer.
Botox injections
Small positive trials, larger negative ones: what botulinum toxin does for plantar fasciitis and how it compares with cortisone, PRP and shockwave.
Tenex
A needle-sized procedure that clears out worn fascia under local anaesthetic, for heel pain that has outlasted shockwave or injections. Good results in case series, but no randomised trial yet.
Night splints
The one device with a clear, narrow mechanism: it stops the fascia shortening overnight. Who that helps, which style to pick, and the heels it can make worse.
KT tape and low-Dye taping
How to tape your foot for plantar fasciitis with low-Dye or KT tape, how long it lasts, and why the response is the cheapest test of whether arch support will help you.
Achilles tendonitis exercises
Heel drops off a step for the cord, floor-level work for the insertion, the pain rules, and a printable sheet.
KT tape for Achilles tendonitis
How to apply it step by step, and why it is a comfort measure rather than a treatment.
Plantar fasciitis massage
Thumb, ball, frozen bottle and calf release: how hard, how long, and where massage guns fit.
Heel spur treatment
Treat the fascia, not the spur: the fastest way to settle heel spur pain, and the exercises that help.
Heel spur surgery
Two different operations share the name. What each involves, the recovery, and who actually needs one.
Walking boots
When a boot helps plantar fasciitis, how long to wear one, and how to come out of it without a relapse.
Too painful to walk
What to do today when plantar fasciitis flares so badly you can barely walk, and the signs that it is a tear or a fracture instead.
Shoes, inserts and kit
How to judge it yourself
What actually matters in a shoe, insert, night splint or heel cup when your heel hurts — how to test it, and who each one is wrong for.
Best shoes for plantar fasciitis
The four features that matter in a shoe, two ten-second tests, and how to match a shoe to your foot.
Insoles and orthotics
Prefab or custom? What the trials actually show, what to look for, and why insoles fail when they fail.
Shoes for heel pain, by cause
Pain under the heel, a bruised heel pad and pain at the back of the heel need different shoes. What each needs, and what to avoid.
Shoes for Achilles tendonitis
Heel-to-toe drop and the back of the shoe decide it, and insertional pain needs something mid-portion does not.
Insoles for heel pain
Arch support, heel cups, cushions and heel lifts each help a different heel. Which insert for which cause.
Heel cups
The cheapest useful thing for a bruised, thinned heel pad. Gel, silicone or firm, and who they do not help.
Heel lifts for Achilles tendonitis
A small wedge with good trial evidence. How high, why both shoes, and how to wean off.
Plantar fasciitis socks and braces
Compression sleeves, night-splint socks and braces do different jobs. Which one is a treatment.
Shoe and insole picks, by problem
Running shoes for plantar fasciitis
Eight current neutral, stability and max-cushion trainers, and when to stop running.
Walking shoes for plantar fasciitis
Walking-specific and running-derived shoes, with widths for men and women.
Shoes for Achilles tendonitis
Higher drop and a collar that leaves the tendon insertion alone.
Shoes for heel pain
Organised by where the heel hurts: underneath, at the back, or a thin pad.
Sandals and slippers
Contoured footbeds for summer, and support from the first step out of bed.
- Slippers and house shoes
- Shoes for heel spurs
- Heel cups
- Best Hoka for plantar fasciitis
- Best Brooks for plantar fasciitis
- Hoka vs Brooks
- Hoka vs On Cloud
- Hoka Bondi vs Clifton
- Brooks Ghost vs Glycerin
- Are Birkenstocks good for plantar fasciitis?
- Are Crocs good for plantar fasciitis?
For clinicians and coders
Plantar fasciitis ICD-10 codes
From 1 October 2026 plantar fasciitis has its own codes, M67.A01, M67.A02 and M67.A09. What happened to M72.2, and the heel codes around them.
In Michigan?
Heel pain care in person
When it is worth booking an appointment, what a first visit involves, and what to bring. Howell and Bloomfield Township.
About this site
- Who writes Heel Guide
- Editorial policy — what a claim has to rest on
- Affiliate disclosure — how the site is funded
Heel pain in Michigan?
Dr. Biernacki treats heel pain at Balance Foot & Ankle in Howell and Bloomfield Township. Most heel pain is worked out in a single examination.
Heel Guide is education, not medical care, and it carries affiliate links. Read the editorial policy and the affiliate disclosure for exactly how that works.