Plantar Fasciitis is certainly the most common cause of heel pain.
There's a strand of thick skin called that connects the heel bone (the Calcaneal bone) to the toes in a fan-like pattern called the plantar fascia.
And just like tonsilitis means inflammation of the tonsils, the '-itis' suffix on the end of plantar fascia means inflammation of the Plantar fascia.
The Plantar fasciitis issue builds over time, although the pain often comes late in its development process.
The common cause is that the foot moves poorly, think flat or rolling feet. this may be subtle, i.e. only happen during walking and running, or maybe more obvious when simply standing.
However, it may happen from a pressure onto the midfoot, think runs or ladder in soft shoes, climbers pushing off an edge or simply a step onto a large stone cause the fascia to stress.
Calcaneal heel spurs, calcaneal cysts and an unstable foot/ ankle may complicate the condition's recovery. Still, regardless of the gold standard, therapy for pain relief is Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy.
Supportive exercises and strapping/ orthotics techniques are often used first or in conjunction with Extracorporeal Shock wave Therapy.