My husband is having really bad heel pain everythime is steps down? Any ideas what this could be?

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Evaluation and treatment

Heel pain can have many causes. If your heel hurts, see your doctor right away to determine why and get treatment. Tell him or her exactly where you have pain and how long you've had it. Your doctor will examine your heel, looking and feeling for signs of tenderness and swelling. You may be asked to walk, stand on one foot or do other physical tests that help your doctor pinpoint the cause of your sore heel. Conditions that cause heel pain generally fall into two main categories: pain beneath the heel and pain behind the heel.

Pain beneath the heel

If it hurts under your heel, you may have one or more conditions that inflame the tissues on the bottom of your foot:

Stone bruise: When you step on a hard object such as a rock or stone, you can bruise the fat pad on the underside of your heel. It may or may not look discolored. The pain goes away gradually with rest.

Plantar fasciitis (subcalcaneal pain): Doing too much running or jumping can inflame the tissue band (fascia) connecting the heel bone to the base of the toes. The pain is centered under your heel and may be mild at first but flares up when you take your first steps after resting overnight. You may need to do special exercises, take medication to reduce swelling and wear a heel pad in your shoe.

Heel spur: When plantar fasciitis continues for a long time, a heel spur (calcium deposit) may form where the fascia tissue band connects to your heel bone. Your doctor may take an X-ray to see the bony protrusion, which can vary in size. Treatment is usually the same as for plantar fasciitis: rest until the pain subsides, do special stretching exercises and wear heel pad shoe inserts.

Pain behind the heel

If you have pain behind your heel, you may have inflamed the area where the Achilles tendon inserts into the heel bone (retrocalcaneal bursitis). People often get this by running too much or wearing shoes that rub or cut into the back of the heel. Pain behind the heel may build slowly over time, causing the skin to thicken, get red and swell. You might develop a bump on the back of your heel that feels tender and warm to the touch. The pain flares up when you first start an activity after resting. It often hurts too much to wear normal shoes. You may need an X-ray to see if you also have a bone spur.

Treatment includes resting from the activities that caused the problem, doing certain stretching exercises, using pain medication and wearing open back shoes.

Your doctor may want you to use a 3/8" or 1/2" heel insert.

Stretch your Achilles tendon by leaning forward against a wall with your foot flat on the floor and heel elevated with the insert.

Use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications for pain and swelling.

Consider placing ice on the back of the heel to reduce inflammation.

It could be a heal spur.

I struggled with this recently. It could be what is called plantar fascitis or a heel spur. I am not old yet, but my heel hurt every time I took a step, especially when I first got out of bed. My whole leg began to hurt because I started walking oddly to compensate. I purchased some Birkenstocks, and for a while my foot still hurt, then it hurt only when I went barefoot, and now I can actually walk barefoot for short times without pain! The Birks are sooo worth the 100.00 price tag.

Certainly sounds like heel spurs. I had them about 5 years ago. My doctor gave me an injection up into my heel - an injection of cortisone. I couldn't walk for about 2 days. Then the pain went away and it hasn't been back since. The injection itself is not pleasant, but it does the trick.

I hope this helps.

The Akeles (SP?) Tenant. that can effect your whole foot , when you walk , step an sometimes if it's bad enough even when you are sitting still.

He most likely has a spur on his heal bone. I believe it can be removed by surgery.

sounds to me like he either has a corn growing or he needs an x-ray. He might have stepped on something or stood on it the wrong way. It happens.

sometimes this is called a heel spur, but most of the time it is tenndanitis....and usually takes several months to go away...have him get a good arch support and wear in his shoes and also....when shoes are off...stretch his feet back and forth to stretch that main tendent in the foot...if it really hurts the first 5 or 10 steps when he gets up on it...it is for sure the tennatus......not the heel spur...

Three reasons for it - 1)it can be bone growth.
2)it can be a tendon problem.
3)a small piece of glass or thorn might be in.
For eirst reason confirm by walking barefooted. If there is shooting pain after a pebble penitration it is unwanted bone growth or a piece of glass or thorn inside heel.
Otherwise it is a tendon problem.

My husband is having really bad heel pain everythime is steps down? Any ideas what this could be?

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