How to treat heel bruise at home

Heel bruise is a fairly common injury that can happen to anyone. In fact, a bruise is damage to the soft tissues, without compromising the integrity of the bones. A heel contusion is usually formed after an unsuccessful jump from a serious height. Very often, such injuries occur in adolescents who love to jump from garages and other elevations. Heel injuries often occur in parkour people - people who overcome obstacles in the urban environment. Such an injury is not uncommon for women who are used to constantly walking on their heels. In this article we will talk about the heel bruise - how does it manifest itself, is it possible to independently distinguish a bruise from a heel fracture and how to treat soft tissue damage at home.

How to recognize a bruised heel

After an unsuccessful landing, the heel pain will tell you about getting a serious injury. What are the symptoms of heel injury?

A hematoma will appear on the heel area a few hours after injury. As a rule, if the heel is bruised, the integrity of the skin is not impaired, but the internal hemorrhage is quite serious. This is due to the large number of blood vessels in this area. If there is no visible hematoma, and the pain in the heel is unbearable, the bone is likely to be damaged - you need to immediately go to the emergency room.

In the place of violation of the integrity of the tissues may appear swelling. In some cases, it can be so large that the foot does not fit in the usual shoes. If separate local buds are formed - most often this indicates a neglected process.

As you know, in the feet is a large number of active points and nerve endings. That is why the pain in case of heel bruise is felt so acutely - this is due to squeezing of the nerve endings, filling the inner damaged tissues with blood, etc.

All these signs may indicate heel injury, but is it possible to distinguish a bruise from a fracture on your own?

How to distinguish a contusion from a calcaneus fracture

The greatest danger of bruising the heel is that it can be not just a bruise, but a fracture of the calcaneus. It is almost impossible to distinguish one from the other by yourself. The bruise pain is very acute at first, but then gradually subsides, becoming pulsating or aching. But at the turn of the fracture, on the contrary, the pain only increases with the passage of time, the swelling increases, and with each passing hour it becomes more and more difficult to endure the discomfort. However, this may not be a universal way to determine contusion or fracture. The pain threshold is different for everyone, for someone and a bruise it is very difficult to move, and someone with a fracture continues to walk to work. The only sure way to determine the nature of the injury is to take an x-ray, which will clearly show the destruction of the bone, if any. By the way, the intensity of injury and injury cannot be judged by the size and color of the hematoma - it depends on the fragility of the blood vessels. For example, in older people, the vessels are very fragile, even a minor injury causes large bruises.

Immediately after receiving an injury, it is very important to provide first aid. You need to lie in a horizontal position, put a pillow under your foot, or any other elevation that will help lift the heel above the rest of the body.This technique will help to avoid severe hematoma and edema. As soon as possible you need to attach to the sore spot cold - pieces of ice, frozen meat, on the street you can use a cold bottle from a kiosk. With severe pain, you can take an analgesic pill that is on hand. As soon as the first painful shock passes, you need to go to the doctor to take a picture, and then exclude or confirm a fracture of the calcaneus. Remember that all home remedies are permissible only after you are sure that you have a bruise. After all, the consequences and complications of a fracture are much more serious.

How to heal bruise

As a rule, the bruise does not require any special measures, the body is able to cope with the injury on its own, only time and rest are needed. Try not to strain the heel and for some time to refuse to walk. All treatment of contusion is aimed at relieving inflammation, reducing pain, accelerating tissue regeneration.

1. Cold-warm. On the first day after the injury, you should apply a cold to the bruise as actively as possible - any frozen foods, ice, wrapped in a towel, etc.The cold constricts the blood vessels and prevents blood from spreading inside the damaged tissue. And 24 hours after the injury, heat must be applied to the injury site - it will help the hematoma to dissolve faster.
2. Drug treatment. Drug treatment is aimed at the speedy healing of damaged tissues. In the fight against edema and hematoma, you can use tools such as Levomekol, Dolobene, Dimexide. Lioton, Heparin ointment, Venolife has excellent absorbing properties. Medicines can be simply rubbed in with gentle, painless movements, left on the heel or make a lotion, fixing the ointment with a special bandage. You can alternate between active drugs to get a faster tissue healing effect.
3. Baths. This is a great way to relieve inflammation and reduce swelling. It is best to make warm baths with the addition of sea salt. Salt draws excess fluid from the tissue, allowing you to quickly get rid of the swelling. Try to do the bath before bedtime, to give the heel absolute rest after the procedure. After taking the bath you need to thoroughly dry the feet, apply anti-inflammatory ointment,cover with a film and fix with a bandage. This will help the tissues recover faster and prolong therapy overnight.
4. Physiotherapy procedures. Usually they are prescribed only for severe bruises or in neglected condition, when the injury does not heal for a long time. Very useful treatment is magnetic fields, phonophoresis, ultrasound. All these activities in various ways stimulate enhanced blood circulation in the tissues, have anti-inflammatory effect, accelerate the resorption of hematoma, relieve swelling.
5. Elastic bandage. In the first few days after injury, you must use an elastic bandage or other tight bandage. It is necessary to wear it constantly in the intervals between treatments and other therapeutic measures. This will allow the tissues and tendons to recover faster, moreover, a tight bandage protects the leg from unwanted loads.

If the injury is minor, for a long time you will not fall out of life - the injury will take place in just a few days. Especially if you accelerate the recovery of folk remedies.

How to treat heel bruise at home

Here are some more popular tips and recommendations that will help you reduce inflammation and swelling, get back to active life as soon as possible.

1. Boric or camphor alcohol. Rub boric or camphor alcohol into the bruised leg, these compounds perfectly warm the tissues, promote the resorption of hematomas.
2. Bodyaga This is an excellent remedy for edema and bruises. Powder of vegetable origin must be dissolved in a small amount of water and rub the composition in the leg, the improvement will be noticeable after the first application.
3. Cabbage. The cabbage leaf will help if there are seals or internal blood clots in the injury site. A large sheet should be rolled out on a board with a rolling pin, softened, attached to the sore heel and secured with an elastic bandage.
4. Wormwood and oak bark. Both of these components have excellent healing properties - wormwood relieves swelling and inflammation, oak bark anesthetizes and stimulates tissue to regenerate. Pour two tablespoons of chopped oak bark and wormwood into a glass jar, pour in boiling water, let it brew for a couple of hours. From the cooked broth, you can make warm baths or attach to the heel of the lotion.
5. Vodka compress. Alcohol lotions perfectly cope with internal bruises and inflammations, hematomas are perfectly absorbed. You just need to soak a piece of bandage or clean cloth in vodka, place it on the heel, wrap it with a film so that the alcohol does not evaporate, and fix it with a bandage. Remove no earlier than a couple of hours.
6. Potatoes. In the people it is believed that potato starch pulls the inflammation out, that is, "takes it all over." Therefore, when bruises from the potato pulp often make medicinal lotions. Boil the potatoes in a uniform, crush to a state of mashed potatoes, add a little oil (for the potatoes to cool for a long time) and apply the gruel to the heel, fix with foil and bandage. Instead of potatoes, you can use regular starch. Mashed potatoes not only relieves inflammation, but also keeps heat for a long time, which helps to get rid of edema.

Sometimes the problem is not the injury itself, but its appearance - who likes the huge blue spots on the leg? This is especially worried about women in the summer - I want to quickly return to your favorite sandals and sandals. In this case, you need to rub horseradish and radish on a grater, mix and apply gruel to damaged tissues, fix with a bandage and do not remove it for about a day. Vegetable juice from gruel can be added to the baths.

Our simple tips and recipes will help you speed recovery. If you act competently and comprehensively, even the most serious bruise will take place in a week, and you will be able to return to a normal life and a healthy walk again!

Video: how to cure pain in the foot and heel