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Bruised Heel
Content and pictures provided by the Sports Injury Clinic

What is a bruised heel?

The heel bone is protected by a pad of fat. Repeated pounding of the heel can cause the fat pad to be pushed up the side of the heel leaving less of a protective layer causing heel pain. If landing incorrectly from a jump (flat footed) its usually the heel that take the most impact.

     
Rear view of heel


How long will it take to recover?

If you catch heel pain early and rest then it should recover quite quickly - within a week. If you ignore the warning signs (heel pain) and the fat pad gets damaged beyond easy repair then this is a very difficult injury to treat. Rest means rest. If you have to be on your feet then ensure you put a shock absorbing and cushioning heel insert (polysorb or similar) into your shoes.

What can the traceur do?

  • Rest until there is no more heel pain.
  • Pad the heel of shoes with a shock absorbing insole.

  • Replace running shoes if they are old or the soles are weakened through regular jumping around.

What can be done by a specialist?

  • Confirm the diagnosis.
  • Advise on which shoe inserts to use. Special inserts can be made but in most cases, regular ones like polysorb or sorbathane can be purchased from sports stores.
  • Tape the heel to provide pain relief and compress the soft tissue under the heel giving more protection to the bone



Polysorb insoles.