“Hi, I’m Dr. Wachtel, and my patients are always asking me,

‘What’s that bump on the back of my heel, and why does it hurt?’

Well, the heel has several different areas that can cause pain. The back of the heel has an attachment where the Achilles tendon attaches, or on the bony surface of the back of the heel, there are rough areas that are contacted by your shoe and cause irritation. It’s very important to go to a foot specialist or a podiatrist for this kind of problem because if there is heel pain in the back of your heel, it could mean that you have what we call an Achilles tendon rupture, or a partial rupture where the Achilles tendon is attaching to the heel, and it’s not completely attached.

Basically, any kind of heel pain in the back of the heel should be addressed pretty quickly because we worry about the long-term effects of not treating it.”