How can runners deal with a bump on the back of their heel bone?

Sports & RecreationsSports

  • Author Craig Payne
  • Published June 20, 2024
  • Word count 568

Haglund’s deformity or a pump bump is an bigger bit of bone in the rear of the heel is a painful issue in athletes and it is often not easy to deal with. The bigger portion of the heel bone rubs on the footwear causing a bursitis and also blisters. The bursitis may become rather swollen and also painful. The painful bursa is referred to as retrocalcaneal bursitis.

The only way to make the enlarged heel bone go away is to use surgical procedures and that surgical procedure might require detaching the Achilles tendon at the insertion to get at the heel bone to take out the enlarged bone and then reattaching the Achilles tendon to the calcaneous. This is a big deal and entails plenty of recovery, and we all want to stay away from that if possible. Having said that, it's a fairly good choice in the long run if it is a recurring difficulty and the methods useful to help it aren't solving the issue.

The obvious way to deal with a Haglund’s problem of the calcaneus bone is to get pressure off of the painful spot so the bursitis lump can go down. At times, a straightforward heel raise maybe all that is required in some cases as this might move the painful place on the calcaneus bone away from the irritating area of the heel counter on the running shoe. Podiatry self-adhesive felt padding could also often be used to fashion a doughnut shaped pad that goes around the painful bursitis. This could be stuck in the running shoe or on the foot. Other types of felt padding may be able to be stuck within the heel counter of the running footwear to keep the pressure off the swelling letting it get better. Whenever the pressure from the shoe is allayed for long enough, the inflammation with the bursitis can go down.

As for just what is the best running shoe for a Haglund’s condition on the heel bone, there probably not one, in spite of runners frequently asking online to get the best and getting an abundance of advice for specific running footwear. Nearly all running footwear manufacturers use a different molded last to produce their shoes on, therefore its a case of finding the footwear that most accurately fits the shape of the back of your heel. Each and every runner's anatomy of their heel bone is not the same, making that is a difficult job. A running shoe with a soft, bendable and pliable heel counter will probably be a lot better than one with a more inflexible heel counter.

Some runners test out a higher drop and a lesser drop running shoe in order to find that one more than another does a much better job at relieving pressure on the painful area. As each individual Haglund’s lump is different it is challenging to give specific advice to an particular person as to which running shoe will probably suit them better. Quite a few athletes actually try chopping a hole in the back of the counter in the running shoe with the intention that there is no pressure from the shoe on the bump. Should you wish to do this, it would be good plan to attempt it initially by using an older pair of running shoes just in case something might not work out.

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