Table 2:

Differential diagnosis for heel pain.⁷

Type	Diagnosis	Common findings
Neurologic	Tarsal tunnel syndrome: posterior tibial nerve impingement	Burning sensation in the plantar region worsened by dorsiflexion
	Neuropathy such as from diabetes	Paresthesias in plantar region
Skeletal	Acute calcaneal fracture	Likely after hard landing on heel
	Calcaneal stress fracture	Most likely seen in runners
	Sever disease: calcaneal apophysitis	Seen in pediatric patients with open physes
	Systemic arthritides such as rheumatoid	Expect pain in multiple joints along with heel pain
Soft tissue	Fat pad atrophy	More common in elderly people
	Fat pad contusion	More likely associated with hard landing on heel
	Achilles tendinitis	Posterior calcaneal tenderness and tendon pain
	Retrocalcaneal bursitis	Pain in retrocalcaneal bursa
	Posterior tibial tendinitis	Pain along posterior tibial tendon and at insertion mid foot at the arch