Healing a bruised heel

[dbirider]

I also ride Bmx, which is how I messed my heels up. I figured this is a good place to get advice since you guys know a lot about treating injuries.

I'm trying to work out the best way to care for my heels to recover quicker. Do you you think I should be dunking my feet in ice water, warm water, or do a contrast type thing? - and how often? Is there anything else I could be doing? Elevating maybe?

I took about 10 days off and they started to feel better, but just bashing them a little bit makes it as bad as ever.

[Joshua Naterman]

It can take 4-6 weeks to heal really bruised heels, assuming you are smart and compliant meaning you don't do ANYTHING that would aggravate the heel for that time. Testing it out will just extend your healing time so resist the temptation. It WILL be there, so resist it.

Contrast baths are fine, as is gentle effleurage from the foot to the knee with the heel elevated some. End contrast baths with cold. Hot and cold packs are another way to do this. End with cold, and use the effleurage techniques before the last cold application. use google to learn about effleurage, it is basically long slow sweeping strokes and should be used to help 'milk' any built up fluid out of the foot before the final cold application of each session.

You can also look up some chinese remedies.

[dbirider]

Cool thanks, I'll Start doing contrast baths and try to take it easy on my feet.

For contrast baths, what's a good amount of time to submerge in the hot and cold, and how long would you do it for total? Should I try doing it a few times throughout each day?

[Joshua Naterman]

Personally I would use hot and cold packs since you can elevate the foot that way, as well as the extra convenience. 5 minutes each way is fine, but you need multiple cycles. Using water is a big challenge, and pretty wasteful.

Time, by far, is your biggest ally when it comes to healing the heel.