Invisible ouchie in the heel

KTR

Barefooters
Feb 10, 2016
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Madrid, Spain
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Hi everyone!

Like 3 weeks ago I went for run —conveniently barefoot, o'course— and at some point my left heel landed on a stone. I produced some pain in that moment but I kept running and it did not bother me for the rest of the run.
Then, 3 days later I went out for another run and I could feel some pain in that area every time my heel touched the ground. Since then I've been feeling that pain and it does not go away. It does not keep me away form running, in fact it is more annoying when walking than when running (since when you walk you tend to land on your heel). To make it worse, on today's run I landed on another stone again.
However, if you look at the area there's nothing visible that draws my attention:
Capture.PNG

It's not an unbearable pain, but it's actually modifying the way I walk (even producing some annoyances in my left ankle) and it's really disturbing.

Has anyone gone through this before? Any tips?

Thanks!
 
Are you 100% sure you don't have anything in it?
The only time I've experienced similar issues to what you've described it turned out I had a tiny bit of stone buried beneath the surface. It took a few days for it to work its way to a level where I could dig it out...
-hope it sorts itself out..
 
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Most likely culprit is a slither of clear glass buried deep, you can't see it, but could also be a planter fascia issue.
I'm no doc, if it doesn't clear in a few weeks I'd suggest getting it checked out.
 
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Could be plantar fascia. I did the same thing and tore the plantar fascia. I finally ended up with an orthotic.
 
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Are you 100% sure you don't have anything in it?
The only time I've experienced similar issues to what you've described it turned out I had a tiny bit of stone buried beneath the surface. It took a few days for it to work its way to a level where I could dig it out...
-hope it sorts itself out..
I've checked it out and there's nothing. No thorn, no glass, no bruise, no cut on the skin, nothing.

Bone bruise?
Hell, no! Actually, I remember having had something similar to this, but even worse. Now I remember. It was last summer, when I was "experimenting" with barefoot running. On my 3rd attempt I did not see a huge stone and stomped on it with my mid foot. That time I got a huge bruise and took around 5 weeks to recover. On the first days I couldn't even walk :hungover:

Most likely culprit is a slither of clear glass buried deep, you can't see it, but could also be a planter fascia issue.
I'm no doc, if it doesn't clear in a few weeks I'd suggest getting it checked out.
Could be plantar fascia. I did the same thing and tore the plantar fascia. I finally ended up with an orthotic.
I guess it's a fascia-related bruise, although there's nothing visible.

I'll wait a bit more. And watch for stones!

Cheers!
 
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I have exactly the same problem.

I was wearing minimal shoes (Vivobarefoot Primus Lite II) with a very thin sole and landed on a stone towards the end of a run, as I was tiring. Not hugely painful straight away (apart from the actual impact), but it's got worse since then.

Turns out that I picked up a bruised heel fat pad and plantar fasciitis, which has kept me off running for nearly 5 months now. I just can't get rid of the pain.

But I think I mismanaged it in the beginning, and didn't get enough rest. I thought (and had some advice) that I should just shorten my runs, and do plenty of foot strengthening exercises - but I think I got the balance wrong and overworked it.

So now I'm focusing on gradual rehabilitation.

Good luck - I hope you get the balance right better than I did!
 
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I have exactly the same problem.

I was wearing minimal shoes (Vivobarefoot Primus Lite II) with a very thin sole and landed on a stone towards the end of a run, as I was tiring. Not hugely painful straight away (apart from the actual impact), but it's got worse since then.

Turns out that I picked up a bruised heel fat pad and plantar fasciitis, which has kept me off running for nearly 5 months now. I just can't get rid of the pain.

But I think I mismanaged it in the beginning, and didn't get enough rest. I thought (and had some advice) that I should just shorten my runs, and do plenty of foot strengthening exercises - but I think I got the balance wrong and overworked it.

So now I'm focusing on gradual rehabilitation.

Good luck - I hope you get the balance right better than I did!
PF is one of the most difficult injuries to heal through, whether you're a barefoot runner or a shoddie. You do need to rest it quite a bit and work on those tissues to release them with GENTLE heel raises and rolling knobby ice balls under foot. Try not to rush healing your PF. It's going to take some time. Good luck.
 
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Yeah, PF is hard. But in my case it got better with bit different way. Before starting running, bend your knees so that you drop down maybe two inches, then start running and stay that low while running. I did it first time during one run when PF started to feel painful. Pretty much instantly PF pain subsided. Soleus/calf muscles ached a bit but not in bad way couple of weeks at first when starting to run this way.

And while I had PF for some months on and it bothered while not running, it slowly got better by running with bent knees. My case might be unique case though. But at least it is pretty quick to test.
 
PF is one of the most difficult injuries to heal through, whether you're a barefoot runner or a shoddie. You do need to rest it quite a bit and work on those tissues to release them with GENTLE heel raises and rolling knobby ice balls under foot. Try not to rush healing your PF. It's going to take some time. Good luck.
Yes, I think I'm just learning this the hard way. I'll try to go slower and be way more gentle with it. I've ordered insoles from Barefoot Science too, as I think maybe my arches could be stronger.
Thank you.
 
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Yeah, PF is hard. But in my case it got better with bit different way. Before starting running, bend your knees so that you drop down maybe two inches, then start running and stay that low while running. I did it first time during one run when PF started to feel painful. Pretty much instantly PF pain subsided. Soleus/calf muscles ached a bit but not in bad way couple of weeks at first when starting to run this way.

And while I had PF for some months on and it bothered while not running, it slowly got better by running with bent knees. My case might be unique case though. But at least it is pretty quick to test.

Thanks again, that's a really interesting suggestion. When I'm able to run again, I'll give this a try
 
Sharing my experience...
I got PF and a PT order me taping the feet to allow the inflation to recede. It helped and I got recovered but later it came back, because, well, it wasn't addressing the cause but the symptom:confused:
I got to discover that I was overstriding, putting too much work on my calves and feet. I continue to work on my form, fully landing the heel and allowing my foot to work. When I feel something like PF it mainly means to me that I am not rightfully listening to my feet or my body, I am missing info.
When the running surface is rough, I use it as a way to identify what hurts and try to minimize pain. That gives me a lot of feedback and opportunities to get better :cool:
 
Sharing my experience...
I got PF and a PT order me taping the feet to allow the inflation to recede. It helped and I got recovered but later it came back, because, well, it wasn't addressing the cause but the symptom:confused:
I got to discover that I was overstriding, putting too much work on my calves and feet. I continue to work on my form, fully landing the heel and allowing my foot to work. When I feel something like PF it mainly means to me that I am not rightfully listening to my feet or my body, I am missing info.
When the running surface is rough, I use it as a way to identify what hurts and try to minimize pain. That gives me a lot of feedback and opportunities to get better :cool:
Great insight. Thank you.
 
Yeah, PF is hard. But in my case it got better with bit different way. Before starting running, bend your knees so that you drop down maybe two inches, then start running and stay that low while running. I did it first time during one run when PF started to feel painful. Pretty much instantly PF pain subsided. Soleus/calf muscles ached a bit but not in bad way couple of weeks at first when starting to run this way.

And while I had PF for some months on and it bothered while not running, it slowly got better by running with bent knees. My case might be unique case though. But at least it is pretty quick to test.
I'm excited to see if this works for Jonathan.
 
Sharing my experience...
I got PF and a PT order me taping the feet to allow the inflation to recede. It helped and I got recovered but later it came back, because, well, it wasn't addressing the cause but the symptom:confused:
I got to discover that I was overstriding, putting too much work on my calves and feet. I continue to work on my form, fully landing the heel and allowing my foot to work. When I feel something like PF it mainly means to me that I am not rightfully listening to my feet or my body, I am missing info.
When the running surface is rough, I use it as a way to identify what hurts and try to minimize pain. That gives me a lot of feedback and opportunities to get better :cool:
Thanks, I really appreciate your thoughts.
I'm sure you're right, that a large part of the problem is about listening to our feet/bodies and going from there. In my own case, I don't think I over-stride, I think it's more that I worked my foot too hard after the initial injury. Now I'm left with PF and still a sore heel from the original bruising. I've ordered Barefoot Science insoles and I'm hoping they'll help get things back on the right road. I'll report back here!
 
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Well, I have had ouchies in the heels now for three years, and they are not invisible, but bumps at the back of heel. But sometimes the pain is on the bottom of heel also. Backs of my heels feel very tight and I can't really use that knee bending trick with this one. And normal calf or soleus stretching doesn't usually work either, it just causes wrong type of pain at the back of heel. It seems that finally I have perhaps found couple of ways to alleviate that heel pain though. Chirunning type of running, with lean and active lifting of heels. Leaning seems to lessen pushing (so it doesn't hurt at push off -phase of gait) and heel lifting makes foot landing better, so it doesn't hurt (and feels more right) when foot lands.. Chirunning is fairly similar to pose and barefoot Ken Bob's running technique..

I have also started to do lots of calf raises, with bend and straight legs. Couple of hundred repetitions total for one side..


Also this stretch seems to work quite well.. I don't have that particular equipment, but Strassburg sock can be used similarly. I didn't feel that prolonged passive light stretching, how strassburg sock is recommended to use, is of any use, just aggravates the heel and is quite effort to use.
 
Well, I have had ouchies in the heels now for three years, and they are not invisible, but bumps at the back of heel. But sometimes the pain is on the bottom of heel also. Backs of my heels feel very tight and I can't really use that knee bending trick with this one. And normal calf or soleus stretching doesn't usually work either, it just causes wrong type of pain at the back of heel. It seems that finally I have perhaps found couple of ways to alleviate that heel pain though. Chirunning type of running, with lean and active lifting of heels. Leaning seems to lessen pushing (so it doesn't hurt at push off -phase of gait) and heel lifting makes foot landing better, so it doesn't hurt (and feels more right) when foot lands.. Chirunning is fairly similar to pose and barefoot Ken Bob's running technique..

I have also started to do lots of calf raises, with bend and straight legs. Couple of hundred repetitions total for one side..


Also this stretch seems to work quite well.. I don't have that particular equipment, but Strassburg sock can be used similarly. I didn't feel that prolonged passive light stretching, how strassburg sock is recommended to use, is of any use, just aggravates the heel and is quite effort to use.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I will start doing some targeted stretches.
Interesting that Chi-running is helping you. I may look into that. I'm interested in the Alexander Technique, and how it applies to running, and I see parallels there with Tai-Chi. The idea of lifting your heels makes sense too. For a while I was trying to push consciously with my feet, thinking that I was strengthening them - and again, I think that may have worsened my PF.
Thanks again.
 
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