Suffering with Chronic Heel Pain

Is simply getting out of the bed in the morning the most painful and stressful part of your entire day? If so, there’s a good chance you’re suffering from plantar fasciitis.

The most common form of heel pain in adults, plantar fasciitis, is marked by sharp, stabbing pain that tends to spike just after a lengthy rest, or a few hours after exercising. While chronic plantar fasciitis can make your life miserable and keep you from your daily activities, there are many effective treatment options available at the Nevada Heel Pain Center.

What Is Plantar Fasciitis?

The pain you feel is caused by inflammation and tearing of a thick, fibrous band of tissue called the plantar fascia. The role of the plantar fascia is to support the arch and serve as a shock absorber for your foot, but over time it can grind down from the cumulative stresses of daily wear and tear. Generally, it begins to fray and tear near the underside of the heel, where the plantar fascia connects to the heel bone.

What Causes It?

Plantar fasciitis is an overuse injury. The daily grind of modern living—active lifestyles versus hard and flat floors—can cause this condition to develop slowly over time. The following factors are associated with a higher-than-average risk of plantar fasciitis:

How Do I Get Rid of It?

At the Nevada Heel Pain Center, we provide comprehensive treatment options for plantar fasciitis, from simple and traditional at-home remedies to state-of-the-art medical procedures. This allows us to offer the correct care at the correct time, depending on what you really need.

Traditional Conservative Therapies

Simple, time-tested treatment approaches might include:

  • Rest
  • Ice
  • Physical therapy
  • Avoiding uncomfortable, ill-fitting, or unsupportive footwear
  • Wearing night splints
  • Over-the-counter pain relievers
  • Injections

Advanced Conservative Therapies

At our office, we’re able to provide more sophisticated forms of care for patients who haven’t responded to lower-tech home remedies.

  • Custom orthotics. These highly effective tools are crafted from precise measurements of your own two feet. They slip inside your shoes to cushion the heel, support the arch, redistribute weight and pressure, and even correct flaws in your walking gait.
  • Extracorporeal pulse activation treatment (EPAT). EPAT is a non-invasive treatment that uses guided energy pulses to stimulate healing responses in your body’s damaged tissues. If you’ve heard of “shockwave therapy,” EPAT is similar but more recent development of the technology. It is the most effective tool we have for healing chronic plantar fasciitis pain.

Surgery

Surgery is a last resort that is only required in a very small minority of plantar fasciitis cases. If nothing else has brought relief, we may begin to discuss surgical options with you. The most common procedure involves releasing a portion of the plantar fascia from the heel bone. Success rates for surgery are extremely high, but because recovery takes time and all surgeries come with some risks, we always prefer to exhaust conservative treatment options first.

Contact the Nevada Heel Pain Center

Our experts have one goal: to get rid of your plantar fasciitis pain and get you back on your feet as quickly and simply as possible. To schedule an appointment at either of our offices in Las Vegas, give us a call at (702) 839-2010.