Seeking Help With Your Feet

On the bottom of your foot, there is a pad of fat that is meant to cushion your heel bone, or calcaneus. Sometimes, however, even this pad is not enough to protect your heel bone from bruises. You might bruise your heel if you come down really hard on a solid surface, or if you step directly on something small and hard, like a rock. A heel bruise can be incredibly painful, making it hard to even bear weight on that foot. Thankfully, this injury is treatable. Here are the key heal pain relief treatments your podiatrist is likely to recommend.

Rest

Since it is hard to walk on your foot, don't do so more than you need to. This is not just for comfort reasons. It's to allow your heel time to heal. If you keep stepping on the bruised heel, you may continue breaking already damaged blood vessels in the area. Staying off the heel gives these blood vessels time to repair themselves so that the rest of your heel tissue can obtain the oxygen and nutrients needed to recover.

Ice

Icing your heel a couple of times per day will help keep inflammation down, which will speed healing and also ease your pain. The easiest way to ice your heel is to just submerge your whole foot in a bucket of ice water for about 20 minutes. You'll need to do this two or three times a day for at least three days after the injury.

Wear Padded Orthotics

Your podiatrist might send you home with a set of padded orthotic inserts for your shoes, or they may recommend you buy some at a pharmacy. You might have to cut or trim the orthotics so they fit inside your shoe properly. When you do have to walk or stand, make sure you do so with these orthotics in place. They should re-position your foot so that you put less pressure on your heel with each step. You should continue wearing these orthotics daily until there is no longer any pain in your heel. If you stop wearing them too soon, the chances of re-injuring your heel can increase.

Bruising your heel can keep you sidelined for weeks. This injury is amazingly painful for a bruise, but luckily, patients almost always recover with the conservative therapies described above. The key is to take your time and support your body as it heals naturally.