5 tips to help you beat your heel pain !
Heel pain can be one of the most frustrating injuries to deal with. It can creep up on you, interrupt your training, stop your morning walks, or make standing at work feel impossible. Whether it is Achilles tendinitis or Achilles tendinosis, or perhaps you have plantar heel pain, sometimes called plantar fasciitis and frequently misdiagnosed as heel spurs, these all stop you from doing what you love!
The good news? Heel pain can be fixed, and often faster than you think. After years of helping thousands of patients across Sydney, we’ve refined what really works. Here are our top five tips that make the biggest difference.
- Pain’s a signal, not a stop sign
Back when this blog first came out (yes, around fourteen years ago!), we used to say, “If it hurts, stop.” But today, we know a lot more about how your body recovers.
Pain is information, not punishment. It’s your body’s way of saying, “I’m not coping with this load right now.” That doesn’t mean you have to stop everything. If you normally run 10 kilometres and the pain starts at 8 km, pull up there. If you walk 5 km and your heel pain begins to bite at 4 km, finish early, not forever.
Completely resting can actually make things worse; we’d then need to reload the tendon later, which can restart the pain cycle. The goal is to find your “sweet spot,” enough activity to keep tissues strong without over-irritating them.
“Pain is your body’s information system, not a punishment. We use it as feedback to guide your recovery, not as a reason to panic.”
— Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist
A little bit of discomfort is okay; crippling pain isn’t. The art (and science) of modern recovery is learning to listen to those messages and pace smartly, not push blindly.
- Nothing will change unless YOU change it
Fourteen years ago, we wrote this same tip, and it’s still true today, maybe even more so.
If your heel pain hasn’t improved after weeks (or months) of doing the same thing, it’s time to change something.
Maybe you’ve been following Dr Google’s advice to “stretch your calves” for Achilles pain or “roll a frozen water bottle” for plantar fasciitis. The truth? That’s yesterday’s science. For many types of heel pain, stretching can actually slow healing. What your heel really needs is smarter loading, the right amount of stress at the right time to help the tissue rebuild.
And here’s where the right guidance matters. Not every podiatrist spends their days fixing heel pain. Many focus on good old general foot care, such as helping your nan with her corns, calluses, and nails. There’s nothing wrong with that, and they do it brilliantly. But at A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care, our doctors see six to eight heel-pain patients every day. Which means we’ve become Western Sydney’s leading experts on heel pain. That’s thousands of hours of focused experience, well past the “10,000 hours” rule described by researcher Dr Anders Ericsson and popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers: The Story of Success.
“If your treatment hasn’t changed in months and your pain still has, it’s time to change your approach.”
— Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist
If your current plan keeps you stuck, it might not be the right plan. Fresh eyes, updated evidence, and a specialist who truly understands heel pain can make all the difference.
- Stick to the plan
This one sounds simple, but it’s often the hardest part. We see it every week: someone comes in frustrated that their heel pain isn’t improving, only to discover they’ve been mixing and matching advice.
Maybe a friend at the gym swore by a new stretch they saw on TikTok. Perhaps you decided the shoes we recommended weren’t really your style. Or maybe you thought skipping a few therapy sessions wouldn’t hurt.
The truth is, the people who get better fastest are the ones who follow the plan. We build your treatment schedule, exercises, and footwear program around thousands of hours of experience treating heel pain. These plans aren’t random. They’re built on evidence, careful assessment, and an understanding of how your body actually heals.
“Our Doctors are all qualified, board-certified Podiatrists; they didn’t just roll out of bed and decide they were heel-pain experts. They spent five years at university and have thousands of clinical hours treating this exact condition.”
— Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist
5 Tips to Help You Beat Your Heel Pain
Your plan is your map out of pain. Stick to it, communicate with your clinician, and resist the urge to detour through online shortcuts. Consistency is what turns improvement into recovery.
Don’t believe us? Then how about this excellent one-page infographic, produced by the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, that helps patients understand what high-value treatments look like?
- Understand what is happening
Understanding your condition is half the battle. Know what it is, what causes it, what aggravates it, and why each part of your treatment exists. When you know the “why,” sticking to the “what” becomes much easier.
If something is unclear, ask. Ask again if you need to. A good clinician welcomes your questions and explains things in plain English. If you get a one-liner like “It’s plantar fasciitis and you need very hard orthotics,” that is not enough information for most people to succeed.
In our clinic, we explain what is going on in your foot, how load is affecting the tissues, which habits are stirring things up, and how each step of the plan helps your body adapt.
If you feel under-informed, speak up. Your recovery works best when you know what is happening and you are part of the decision-making.
If you need a plain-English overview for Achilles heel pain, see this easy-to-understand patient guide.” We genuinely want our patients to be educated on their condition. This means being up to date with the evidence base. All clinicians should want their patients to be as educated as possible!
- Finally, DON’T give up!
Whether you have just started your journey to being pain-free or you have tried multiple options from different practitioners with no success, very seriously, do not give up. We are often people’s third or fourth opinion for their plantar fasciitis heel pain. Some patients have seen physiotherapists, specialists, GPs, and other podiatrists. If you have not had success yet, please don’t give up; you are not alone. We have helped literally 1000’s of patients just like you!
“I have the privilege of watching patients report less pain each week until it is gone. Just like people, every foot is different, and the causes of heel pain are different. When your case is carefully analysed, correctly diagnosed, and properly treated, wonderful things can happen. Our approach is very specific to you and how your body responds.”
— Dr Brenden Brown, Principal Podiatrist
These are our top five because we see these patterns so often. It is unusual to meet someone who isn’t dealing with at least one of them. The good news is that heel pain can be beaten. You don’t have to keep battling it or letting it limit your activity. You can get back to the things you love.
We regularly see patients who travel from all across Sydney and even interstate to visit our clinic. It’s not unusual for us to be the last of a long line of practitioners they’ve seen. Come and join our growing group of pain-free patients; we would love to help you, too.
Our clinic is located in St Mary’s, Western Sydney, just five minutes from the M4 with miles of parking out the front. If you’re ready to get on top of your heel pain, we would love to see you head to Penrith and see our super-friendly team of foot doctors.