Medical Advice - Heel Injury

[Lotsokids]

I know, I know - totally off motorcycle topic, but it might help someone out there. The heading says, "anything and everything" so here it goes.

Last February I injured my left heel running, and have been in serious pain since. Of course being the typical guy, I'm not dead, so it should heal itself, right? Well, I was buying all kinds of heel padding including memory foam shoe inserts, and all the while making my problem worse. I finally saw a foot doctor while I was back in the U.S. a couple weeks ago (here in Hungary they would just remove the foot). He said what I had was "plantar fasciitis" - an injury where a tendon was torn near my heel.

Here's the fix:

1. Anti-inflammatory pills (only about 1 week's medication)
2. Relatively hard arch support shoe inserts (just the opposite of what I was doing).

The key is really supporting your arch, not padding your heel. It needs to be a hard plastic-type arch support and not foam, either. I noticed a BIG difference in just a couple days! Almost no pain now!

[andyb]

1. Anti-inflammatory pills (only about 1 week's medication)

Over the counter stuff in this class (NSAID's) includes Motrin (ibuprofen) and Alleve (naproxen).  Both are really commonly used and great for injuries like this.

That said, just a headsup/warning.  Don't take them long term.  A week is about all you want at most.  They are hard on the stomach and intestinal mucosa (lining) and weaken it a bit, which can be a problem.

I mention it because a friend had been taking ~4 Alleve per day for the past 3 weeks for some tendonitis in his hand.  He then caught a mild case of food poisoning, and ended up crapping a whole lot of blood.  In one day, his blood hemoglobin level dropped from 16.x (in the high range of normal for a male) to 10.x (on the low side for anyone!).  Had it dropped to 8, he'd likely have been getting a transfusion (and at 6, definitely would).  That's a lot, lotta blood to flush down the toilet!

Motrin and aspirin also can increase your bleeding time (aspirin being known for it, it's often used to prevent clots for this reason), which can further make it hard to stop bleeding in your guts once it starts.

Stay safe!

[anson45]

Try some gentle stretching of the calf, with the ball of the foot higher than your heel. Sometimes I use a 2 x 4, or the stairs. The key word is "gentle".
Good luck,
Anson