A daily routine for treating heel spur
Educational video from Dr. Jalil Emad's website
In about six minutes of pictures and plain explanation, this video shows where pain under the heel comes from and what to do for it every day. It has five parts in order: morning pain, daily care and insoles, massage, targeted stretches and specialist treatments.
🎯 Who is this video for?
- Anyone who feels a sharp pain under the heel with the first step out of bed in the morning, a pain that eases a little after a few steps.
- Anyone whose same pain comes back when they stand up again after sitting for a while.
- Anyone who stands for hours, or walks barefoot on hard floors at home, and ends the day with a sore heel.
- Anyone who has been told they have a heel spur and wants to know what they can do about it at home.
The first four parts show what you do yourself at home. The last part names the options a doctor turns to if this daily routine is not enough.
📝 What the video covers
- Morning pain: under the foot runs a strong band of connective tissue from the heel to the base of the toes, called the plantar fascia. The video explains why the first step in the morning hurts, and how to stretch the sole before you put your foot down from the bed.
- Daily care and insoles: the video explains why it is better not to walk barefoot on hard floors, and introduces a medical insole that supports the arch of the foot.
- Massage: you sit on a chair, put a bottle of frozen water under the sole and roll it with your foot. The video also gives the length of the massage.
- Targeted stretches: this part has two stretches. In the seated stretch, you rest the painful foot on the other knee, hold the heel with one hand and pull the toes toward the shin with the other. In the standing stretch, you face a wall, rest your hands on it, take one leg straight back and keep the heel of that foot flat on the floor.
- Specialist treatments: the video names these options: shock wave therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, custom-made medical insoles and, in rare cases, surgery.
The video closes with the message that most patients get better without surgery.
Pain after a fall or a jump, a swollen and hot heel, pain that does not let up even at rest at night, pain in both heels at once at a young age together with morning stiffness in the lower back, and numbness, pins and needles or burning instead of pain are warning signs: do not wait with those, get examined. This video does not replace an examination and a diagnosis.
