CAN CHRONIC HEEL PAIN BE HELPED?
We treat heel pain in people from so many walks of life. From athletes to desk jockeys; from pre-teens to seniors. Heel pain can happen to many different people (and for many different reasons), and we are proud to be able to treat as many as we can.
But what if your heel pain has been with you for a very long time? Months? Years? Maybe you don’t even remember when or how it started. Everything you’ve tried so far has had little or no effect, and the pain is just something you’ve come to expect in your life.
Can we do anything for a case of chronic heel pain like that?
The answer, often, is yes! Chronic heel pain is not a lost cause. There are treatments that can have a significant effect on your comfort and quality of life—and surgery is often not the only option.
Below are a few reasons why your heel pain may be persisting. Whether the circumstances line up with yours or not, we are always happy to help anyone find the solutions they need. Please feel free to contact us and arrange an appointment so we can discuss what options you may have.
The Roots of the Heel Pain
Are Not Being Treated
Heel pain is like a weed in garden. It can seem simple on the surface, but have deep roots growing beneath. If you don’t take care of the problem at the roots, it can come back again and again.
To provide results, a heel treatment plan must not only address the pain itself, but the root causes as well.
To complicate matters even further, your heel pain may originate from multiple sources. If only one of those sources is being properly addressed, odds are unlikely you’ll find the complete relief you need.
So sometimes, chronic heel pain can be a matter of not being keyed in to the proper or most effective treatments for your particular situation. When you come to see us, we take the time to fully understand your condition and circumstances, including how your pain is affecting your life, in order to reach the right treatment plan faster and smarter.
Your Heels Need
Help Healing
When the body sustains some form of trauma, cells typically kick into gear to perform repairs. Once the repairs are made, the problem is over and so, usually, is the pain.
But in cases when the body has difficulty healing—either because the area continues to sustain stress and trauma, or some other type of condition is causing a challenge—the repair process of the cells can gradually stop. In a way, the healing process just sort of gives up, or at least is unable to overcome the chronic inflammatory response.
However, the healing process can sometimes be restarted or boosted along. One of the methods through which this can happen is via multiwave locked system (MLS) laser therapy, which we provide at our practice.
MLS laser therapy uses specifically attuned wavelengths of light energy to create a disruption at the site of a soft tissue injury. This disruption can:
- Cause cells to restart and/or accelerate the repair process.
- Increase blood flow to the area – and the delivery of growth factors and other materials cells need for repairs.
- Reduce inflammation as increased circulation carries excess fluid away.
The therapy is conducted over a number of sessions spanning a number of weeks, depending on the type of condition, its severity, and initial effectiveness. Each session takes about 15 minutes, and the laser itself does not cause any pain or damage.
If your heel pain is based in a soft tissue injury, MLS laser may be an effective option. The benefits stack with each successive treatment, too.
You Might Need Surgery
Surgery will almost never be our first resort for any condition. If more conservative treatments can have the effects we are looking for, those options will almost always be considered first.
However, if all reasonable conservative treatment options have been attempted and not produced results, then a surgical procedure to relieve pain becomes more of a potential reality.
Just as there can be many different types of conservative heel pain treatments, there can be many types of surgical procedures depending on your condition and circumstances. We will openly discuss all the related factors for surgery if it becomes a possibility, including all the pros and cons as well as what you should expect before, during, and after the procedure.
Help for Heel Pain Has Not Passed You By
There is no expiration date for getting help for chronic heel pain, no matter how bad it is or how long you have had it. It is true, however, that the sooner you seek that help, the faster and more effective initial treatment approaches tend to be.
Don’t wait any longer to get quality care for the source (or sources) of your heel pain. Capital Podiatry Associates has a wealth of experience and a wide range of tools—from traditional treatments to advanced technologies—to help you make your chronic heel pain a distant memory.
Schedule an appointment at our Alexandria office by calling (703) 560-3773 or by filling out our online contact form.