You need to get an actual diagnosis from a podiatrist, a foot doctor, to know what is wrong with your heel.
I really can’t say this strongly enough. If you’re like me, self diagnosis can totally lead you down the wrong road.
In my case, I diagnosed my own heel pain by talking by phone to my mother, who is a retired nurse, and researching on the Internet. And I was just plain wrong. I completely believed that I had heel spurs, but when I consulted a podiatrist I found that actually I don’t have heel spurs. I have plain old fashioned plantar fasciitis (PF).
In my case, I emailed my regular Kaiser doctor and asked for her advice. She sent in an order for a foot x-ray to have done before seeing the podiatrist, and this saved me a couple of extra doctors visits.
Even my regular doctor, who I love, got it wrong. When she saw the x-rays that were going to the podiatrist, my physician wrote me that I had “mild arthritis,” and said that I did not need to see the podiatrist unless I wanted to for an injection. I followed up and asked for a referral to the podiatrist, because I had a million questions, and I’m glad I did. When I saw the foot doctor, she told me that I don’t actually have “mild arthritis” either, and that normal docs often misread the x-rays that way. Instead, she said, I have plantar fasciitis.
One thing I will note is that my podiatrist offered me a shot, which I did not take. That’s a whole topic on it’s own, which I will write about soon.
Action Item
- Make an appointment with a podiatrist to get your heel problem diagnosed.