What Causes Sharp Heel Pains? 11 Easy Exercises to Fix it Permanently

If you have sharp heel pains when walking, and the very first step in the morning is extremely painful then chances are you have plantar fasciitis issue in your heel. We also call plantar fasciitis a heel spur in which there’s a sharp boney outgrowth on the heel, so, when we walk this boney outgrowth creates sharp heel pain and makes walking painful. Fortunately, with proper exercises, we can get rid of such heel and foot pain. In this article, we are going to discuss 5 easy exercises for heel pain relief and other tips to fix it permanently. These exercises are very simple and anyone can learn and perform them at home. So, let’s get started.

What causes sharp heel pains

But, before we proceed it would be good to learn the common reasons for sharp heel pain. As I just mentioned in the introduction, the cause of sharp heel pains is plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis affects both young active patients and older more sedentary individuals (1). In plantar fasciitis, there is inflammation of the plantar fascia (A thick flat fibrous band on the sole of the foot). And as the pain becomes chronic there also occurs extra bone formation at the heel at the point where the plantar fascia is attached to the heel bone.

When we stand, walk, and run this plantar fascia bears weight and maintains the foot arch. Plantar fasciitis results from chronic overload of the plantar fascia that can be due to overuse, as seen in runners and military personnel. It can also be due to excessive loading, as seen in obese sedentary individuals and those who stand for prolonged periods of time. Another reason is the structural foot deformity such as flat feet, pes cavus, tightness of tendo-Achilles, and limb length discrepancy. This is why it is important to manage flat feet too, which can be done by performing flat foot exercises and shoe modification.

Easy exercises for heel pain

The exercises we are going to learn are aimed at stretching the tight plantar fascia and strengthening the muscle around the foot and heel. There is numerous small muscle in our sole which maintains the foot arch. We need to strengthen these muscles. So, let us start with stretching exercises.

#1 Stretching exercise for foot pain

So first we start with stretching exercises. When we have foot pain it almost starts from the heel, and then spreads from the heel to reach the sole of the foot. So around our soles, there are numbers of small muscles of our feet, in which stiffness develops. So, stretching these stiff muscles is very important.

It is simple, to stretch it, and sit in the position as shown in the figure. If I want to stretch the foot of the left leg, then I will put it on the right thigh. After that I will hold my foot with my hand, observe the position, my wrist will almost be around my toes.

After having a proper grip I will pull the foot towards myself and allow the ankle to bend to the maximum so as to stretch the muscles of my sole. Stretch it like this and you will feel stretched on your feet. Now you have to hold this position for at least 30 seconds or a minute, then let it relax.

Again you have to repeat the same process, okay, keep it stretched and hold for a minute then you release it. So in this way, if you do it three to four times five times at a time, then you will get a lot of relief from it.

#2 Toe movement for foot pain relief

After this comes strengthening exercises for sharp heel pains. As we know there are numerous small muscles in and around our feet. Because of pain and other reasons, these muscles become weak which becomes a cause of foot pain. So, strengthening these muscles is very important for long-term effects.

So, the first exercise in the list of strengthening exercises for foot pain relief is toe movement. The starting position for this exercise is sitting straight on a chair or stool with foot flat on the floor. keep your two feet side by side.

Now in this starting position simply bend and straighten the toes of both leg while trying to maintain the contact of toes with the floor. To make it more subjective and effective we will spread a towel in front and then I will try to collect it by moving my toes. Do it till you collect the whole towel this will also strengthen your foot muscles.

Do it for a minimum of 5 minutes in a single session.

#3 Foot scooping

Our starting position for this exercise would be the same as the previous one with the only difference being the position of the foot. Keep both of your heels together and toes apart so as to make an angle of 15 degrees between the foot.

In this position, I will scoop my both foot against each other as shown in the figure. This will also help all the small muscles in the heel to strengthen it. Do it for 3 to 5 minutes in a single session

#4 Heel off in sitting

Our next exercise for foot pain relief is heel off in sitting. While sitting in the same position I will lift the heel off the ground as shown in the figure this way. After lifting the heel lower it down slowly to the original position. Repeat this same process again, heel off the ground and then lower it down.

Do it as much as you can, there’s no specific count, do as much as you can. Every exercise that we discussed has to be done at least 20 to 25 times but as much as The more you do, the better, see this, all right. After this, it is toe-off, ok, and do this as much as you can, but at least you must do it 20 to 25 times.

#5 Toe off exercise for sharp heel pain

In this exercise, instead of heel, we have to raise our toes off the ground so that our leg comes to the heel. After taking the toes off the ground bring it back foot to normal flat position. Again repeat this process of toe-off. As in the previous exercise, repeat this for 20 to 25 times in a session.

#6 Heel off in standing

To make the heel-off exercise effective, we can do the same exercise in the standing position. For this, you stand in front of the table and hold it. If you are an elderly man, then you must do this exercise by holding a table, lest you may fall due to imbalance.

So, in this starting position, you will stand on your toes by taking your heel off the ground. Then lower down yourself slowly to the original position and then again stand on your toes. Do it a minimum of 15 to 20 times in a session.

#7 Foot pain relief self-massage

The next exercise for foot pain relief is a type of self-massage exercise in which you have to use a tennis ball. Simply keep the tennis ball under your foot and roll it back and forth. You would feel a nice massage effect on the sole of the foot, do it for as much as you can. Rub it all around the painful region.

With this, your stiffness will also be removed and in a way, there will also be self-massage if you have pain in both legs. Do it in this way on both legs. Do this as much as you can, there is no limit to this, you will definitely do it for at least 2 to 5 minutes in a session.

#8 Sand walking barefoot

Next, I will recommend that if you have sand accumulated around the house somewhere, in the morning walk barefoot in the sand there as much as 10 minutes, 15 minutes half an hour walk barefoot in the sand. This will also help correct the flat feet as well as you will get rid of foot pain gradually. 

Other tips

#9 Shoe insert for flat feet

If you have a flat foot then you can use a shoe insert. Actually, see here in our foot there is an arch, there is a medial arch, which in the flat foot this arch collapses and foot goes flat. So whenever you wear a shoe, you can put medial longitudinal arch support inside it.

If you keep that medial longitudinal arch support in your shoes and if you do wear it regularly in your duty or if you do your profession, then gradually that pain will subside along with this the problem of the flat foot will also get corrected.

#10 Hot bath

Along with this, when you come home after doing a whole day’s work, then after reaching home, dip both your feet in warm water and leave it to relax, the pain will reduce with the hot water bath and if you add a little salt to it, then its effect will increase even more. Therapeutic ultrasound is found to be effective in relieving pain to some extent.

#11 TENS for foot pain

What if nothing works

There may be a condition that nothing works to relieve sharp heel pain. Such a person who remains symptomatic despite a 6-month of exercise and other tips may have to go for minimally invasive treatment or surgery. Like, the injection of platelet-rich plasma that stimulates the body’s healing response. Corticosteroid injections are commonly prescribed that may give temporarily relieve pain but may increase the risk of plantar fascia rupture and fat pad atrophy. Another option is botulinum toxin injections, which relax the calf muscles that in turn decrease the stress in the plantar fascia (1).

Surgical management includes gastrocnemius recession and medial head of gastrocnemius release, which decreases the stress on the plantar fascia and partial plantar fasciotomy, which stimulates a healing response (1).

Reference Journal:

1. Latt, L. Daniel, et al. “Evaluation and Treatment of Chronic Plantar Fasciitis.” Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics, Jan. 2020, doi:10.1177/2473011419896763.

Sunit. S. Ekka

Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.