Heel Spur and My Father

You do not know him, but my father is normally very active. When I was younger, he was running about 16 km a day. However, because of his knees, he hasn’t run for years, but he walks ... well, he used to walk.

Overnight, my father started to have a pain in his heel. It was swollen and red. After a few weeks of suffering, he decides to go and see his doctor. The diagnosis was clear, it’s a heel spur. The doctor told him that he had to rest his foot and apply ice when it was painful, but besides that, there was nothing else to do to relieve the pain. Time must do its work to heal his foot.

It’s been several months since my father's foot started to make him suffer. Obviously, my dad being what he is, he doesn’t talk about it. However, on my last visit, I quickly realized his condition. When I asked him to go fishing, my dad loved fishing, he categorically refused. He told me that if he couldn’t sit in the car on the water's edge with his fishing rod, he wouldn’t do anything of the sort. Whoa! What a hit in the face that was!

I wanted to help my dad so I did some research.

I soon found myself helpless in front of a multitude of sites and resources that told me the same thing: nothing can be done.

Apparently the culprit would be the plantar fasciitis (the fibrous membrane that goes from the heel bone to the base of the toes). The causes are many: an injury, wearing a bad shoe, simply the shape of the foot or aging. All could have caused a stretch, tears or rupture of my dad's plantar fascia. And it can take several months for the pain to disappear.

Meanwhile, my dad stopped all activity, limps when he walked and the pain is all but too present still.

My message to you: take good care of your feet! We tend to neglect them and take them for granted until something happens. Choose good shoes and warm your muscles and tendons before any activity.

By Jasmine Beausoleil