Why do pregnant heels crack? How to prevent problems with the skin of the feet? Risk factors for varicose veins

During the long nine months of carrying a child, a woman can discover a lot of new things! The changes taking place in her body sometimes cause considerable discomfort and even strong emotional experiences, and sometimes frankly surprise. There is no woman who would not be upset and worried about the appearance age spots on the face (the so-called "mask of pregnant women"). Many are perplexed by the uncontrollable sleepiness that rolls off their feet throughout the first trimester. And others begin to feel terribly aching in their heels, which they have never seen before in their lives.

Some future mothers would not even think that such phenomena are observed not only by them. Nevertheless, this is so: many pregnant women grumble about pain in the limbs.

What could it be?

In general, leg pain among pregnant women is not considered something out of the ordinary: the center of gravity during this period is redistributed, the weight is constantly increasing - and fragile female legs do not withstand such metamorphosis. Also, swelling can appear, especially on later dates pregnancy.

But why does the pain occur in the heels? Moreover, such that it is impossible to step on them or walk. The heels are numb, stiff, or painful.

Many women note the appearance of such pain in the late afternoon, after the experience working day... Others feel it in the morning, but after they disperse a little, the pain gradually disappears, reappearing only in the evening. If you are experiencing something like this, then you should know: although this state cannot be called an absolute norm, it is observed in quite a few women who are expecting a child.

One of the most likely reasons why heels hurt during this period is the same shift in the center of gravity. By the way, there are frequent complaints about the appearance of pain when refusing to wear shoes: as soon as a woman switches to “low” shoes after wearing “high” shoes for a long time, a similar symptom can manifest itself. This is due to the redistribution of weight.

It is natural that overweight during pregnancy, it can also "give to the heels". Carrying a heavy load is not easy, and the greatest load can fall on this part of the foot.

TO probable reasons heel pains also include puffiness: make sure that no fluid is retained in the body - this is extremely undesirable in general for the condition of the fetus and the mother.

However, some doctors believe that severe pain in the heels cannot be ignored - in which case, you should immediately apply for medical care... This symptom can be a signal of serious violations. In particular, pain often radiates to the heels when. Another common cause of heel pain is the so-called "spurs" (the formation of salt deposits). If the pain radiates to the heels when walking, then cardiac causes are not excluded (it is better in this case to check the work of the heart).

How to relieve heel pain?

Home remedies can help relieve pain foot baths with cool water: they perfectly relieve fatigue in the legs and remove swelling. You can add a generous handful of salt or soda to the water, and after the procedure, take horizontal position with your feet on a hill. It's just great if your husband or another person close to you will massage your heels: it helps with "spurs", and just like that.

Avoid being on your feet for a long time: walks should be comfortable, and standing in lines is generally contraindicated!

As for shoes, pain in the legs very often arises precisely because of it: during pregnancy, as, indeed, at any other time, you cannot save on comfortable high-quality physiological shoes. Today at specialized stores there is wide selection different brands. You may need orthopedic insoles for your shoes.

If pain is annoying, then it is imperative to consult a doctor on this issue. He will at least recommend you effective ointment to alleviate the condition. For the same purpose, you can use alcohol tincture and other recipes for traditional medicine.

Finally, I would like to note that pain in the heels is not the worst thing that a woman has to endure while carrying her baby. But, like many other things, it often disappears after childbirth as suddenly as it appeared, or after a certain period of time. Unless, of course, it is associated with some kind of disease such as thrombophlebitis.

Take care of yourself!

Especially for Elena Kichak

Pregnancy brings many surprises for a woman. The body of a pregnant woman is very complex and unpredictable - some sensations are replaced by others. Physiological processes that occur during the development of a child in the womb, begin to affect the entire body and deliver mass to the woman unpleasant sensations... One of these sensations is complaints of pain in the heels, which come from pregnant women quite often. Such pains are long lasting and sometimes give a woman a lot of trouble.

Causes of heel pain:

1. Weight gain of a pregnant woman is the main physiological cause that a woman has during this period and is the most common reason pain in the heels. The redistribution of the center of gravity makes musculoskeletal system more vulnerable, as it is subjected to tremendous stress. It is quite normal phenomenon that does not require treatment. Depending on the individual characteristics women pain occurs in different time days. High heels of a pregnant woman must be discarded and worn more comfortable shoes.

2. Swelling during pregnancy can also cause pain in the heels and throughout the foot. This pathology requires observation and treatment by a doctor.

3. Arthritis. Inflammatory process in the entire foot due to arthritis, most often creates heel pain. Such pain does not appear immediately, but with a gradual increase. It manifests itself in the morning with a long static position of the foot and subsides only after kneading. During the day, such pain can occur with prolonged exertion, which should be avoided by pregnant women.

4. Plantar fasciitis. This disease located on the entire sole of the feet, has a dense structure and tends to become inflamed when worn tight shoes... With inflammation of fasciitis, salt deposits can form, which often provokes the appearance of heel spurs. Pregnant women need to monitor their choice suitable shoes, as during pregnancy, due to edema, the size of the shoe may change.

5. The heel spur is chronic form fasciitis. Salt deposits in the foot form a build-up that can cause pain in both the heel and the entire leg when walking. The pain is felt more strongly in the morning, after walking, the pain weakens, but after a short rest it resumes again with renewed vigor.

6. Inflammation of the Achilles tendon. Also characterized by pain in the heel when moving.

Prevention of any heel pain are:

1. Wearing comfortable and quality shoes... It should be borne in mind that with edema, the size of the leg may increase.

2. A low heel is required during pregnancy, and especially if any pain in the legs appears.

3. Weight control.

4. Physiotherapy for legs.

5. Reducing stress on the feet, including long walks in the shops.

6. Adequate food.

Even with physiological reasons heel pain, you should seek the advice of your doctor. Can be distinguished possible measures for heel pain during pregnancy:

For minor pains, a foot bath with sea ​​salt or soda.
Raising your legs to a slight elevation will help relieve fatigue.
Massaging your feet will also help you relax and relieve fatigue from your heels.

Physiological heel pain usually disappears as imperceptibly as it appeared, but may continue until delivery. Prevention and small procedures to eliminate pain in the heels should help the pregnant woman for a short time, and in some cases completely get rid of the discomfort.

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Carrying a baby is a happy time for a woman. Happiness is darkened by unpleasant painful sensations for nine months. Women often have heel pain during pregnancy. This phenomenon should not be ignored. See a doctor who will prescribe treatment to help relieve and relieve symptoms.

In some, heel pain appears in the evening, in other women, on the contrary - in the morning, in the afternoon it passes, in the evening it returns again. It hurts a woman to stand even for a short time. Pain can occur while jumping.

This is sometimes associated with hormonal changes organism. Heel pain may be affected by weight gain accompanying last trimester pregnancy, edema. Do not ignore the forward redistribution of the center of gravity.

Heel pain is caused by shoes, the transition from heel to flat sole... Choose comfortable shoes, low, wide heel... Due to the constant load of the knees, cracks can form on the heels, stepping on the feet, pain is felt. Baths for softening, cleansing the skin, daily moisturizing, treatment of the heels with special tools in the salon help.

Doctors do not recommend ignoring heel pain. Pain does not always go away after childbirth. The reason is exacerbation varicose veins. Heart and vascular problems can be reflected in heel pain. The causes of heel pain in a pregnant woman are diabetes, Achilles tendonitis.

It occurs due to inflammation of the muscles in the heel region. Leads to the appearance of a thorn-like growth - a heel spur. Education is affected by a sharp increase in the body weight of a pregnant woman, leading to impaired blood circulation lower limbs... During pregnancy, a woman may develop flat feet, which contributes to the appearance of spurs.

A spike in the heel is accompanied by unbearable pain. While walking, with support on the heel, bending over - the pain is sharp, burning.

If there is pain due to a spike in the heel, see your doctor. It will redirect to the right specialists who will select a treatment to relieve inflammation in soft tissues feet.

But for a woman expecting a baby, gentle therapy is suitable. Reduces spur pain massotherapy... Reduce locomotor activity, load on the knee. The doctor will select anesthetic ointment, medications suitable for the pregnant woman.

It is worth reconsidering nutrition. Eat foods that remove salt from the body - watermelons or cucumbers. This relieves the pain caused by the spur. Reduce your salt intake.

Contrast baths, baths with sea salt relieve pain. IN complex therapy, for pain due to a spur, the use of special insoles, heel cushions is included. They support muscles and ligaments in correct position, improve blood circulation, strengthen the ligaments, helping to reduce the load on the knees, treat flat feet. Sometimes a cast is applied to keep the heel in position.

For morning heel pain, use Strasbourg socks at night. These devices support the feet perpendicular to the lower leg, preventing tendon contraction. Use mustard plasters or paraffin wax. Warming up dissolves the spurs. Timely started therapy relieves heel pain, prevention will help to avoid its occurrence.

Diabetic foot injury

One of the causes of heel pain is diabetes mellitus. As a consequence increased level sugar, blood flow deteriorates, tissues are poorly supplied with oxygen, leg pain appears. The skin of the foot itches, flakes. Diabetes mellitus is accompanied by cracks. In the worst case, a hole appears, an ulcer, a black dot on the heel. It is important to start treatment on time, otherwise the syndrome develops diabetic foot leading to amputation.

Signs of leg damage in diabetes: Swelling of the lower extremities, pain in the lower leg, calf, knee and heel. Skin color is pale, red, blue. The temperature of the foot is either cold or hot. Fungus forms on the nails, between the toes - diabetes leads to damage to the legs.

A pregnant woman with diabetes should control glucose levels, follow the doctor's recommendations regarding nutrition. Treatment and - washing feet warm water without soap, dry thoroughly. Pay attention to the area between your fingers.

To moisturize the foot, use a special ointment or fat cream... With diabetes, soar your legs, use mechanical means not recommended for removing rough skin. Use special pedicure socks to prevent the appearance of calluses, cracks in the foot.

The choice of footwear plays an important role in diabetes mellitus. Special and convenient for leg pathology, relieving the load from the calves and knees. Wearing shoes without a heel for foot pain is undesirable. Choose socks for diabetes without a stiff elastic band.

Feet numbness

If the foot becomes numb, itches, there is a burning sensation in the heel, a tingling sensation is due to a violation of the nerve receptors of the legs and swelling of the tissues. This is hypesthesia resulting from diabetes mellitus, vitamin B deficiency.

The foot becomes numb due to joint inflammation and heel spurs. The reasons are osteochondrosis, arthritis, vascular disease. The defeat of the central nervous system also causes numbness of the heels. This is facilitated by the load on the heart when carrying a baby.

If your foot rarely becomes numb, don't worry. After giving birth, the numbness will disappear. The problem is treated at home. Exercise, water aerobics, warm shower, foot massage, reducing the load from the knees. Also an iron diet, vitamins, and blood sugar control if numbness occurs with diabetes.

If your leg becomes numb on a regular basis, see a doctor. The doctor will prescribe an ultrasound and Doppler examination to detect blood clots, varicose veins, and other vascular diseases. Required general analysis blood to detect anemia. If not enough, the doctor will prescribe the consultation of other specialists.

When the heel gets numb, itches, the treatment consists of procedures that strengthen the blood vessels. Phlebotonics are prescribed, a special ointment. For numbness, wearing compression stockings and elastic bandages worn during childbirth. In rare cases, plaster is used. Continue treatment after delivery.

Achilles tendonitis

Stress on the knees during pregnancy leads to Achilles tendinitis. It hurts a woman to step on the heel. Tendinitis is an inflammation in the tissues of the heel tendon. The back of the legs is exposed to stress during childbearing, salts are excreted worse, accumulate, the elasticity of the tendon decreases, the tissues become inflamed.

When walking or jumping, a woman has a strong nagging pain, with further movement dies down. The skin over the heel tendon turns red, and this part of the leg swells.

Damage to the Achilles tendon occurs due to flat feet of a pregnant woman, use uncomfortable shoes... The formation of a skin growth in the area of ​​the Achilles tendon is possible. It hurts a woman to step on the heel. Start treating inflammation as early as possible, otherwise tendonitis will become chronic.

A symptom of chronic tendinitis is a nagging pain after sleep. It hurts to walk when the surface is tilted, up the stairs. Chronic tendonitis leads to the development of a heel spur. The disease is diagnosed by probing the surface with fingers - a pain point is found. An ultrasound will show where the tissue is torn.

Medicine recommends starting the treatment of tendonitis by relieving the load from the knees of the injured limb. The ankle joint is tightened with an elastic bandage, applied cold compress... If the tendon is severely affected, it may be necessary to apply a cast to relieve stress on the ankle. After relieving pain, continue treatment with a course of massage, gymnastics.

Physiotherapy

Heel pain is treated with physical exercise suitable for a pregnant woman:

1. Walking. You need to do it in walking shoes. Step on the heel with soft transition to the sock. Gradually, stride length and duration increase.
2. Exercise to stretch the muscles of the heel tendon. Stand straight with feet shoulder-width apart. Step forward. The knees are bent, the buttocks are tense. Heels rest on the floor, stretching back part legs.
3. Stand on a step or a special platform, resting on your toes. The heels slowly drop below the level of the platform. Hold out for 30 seconds.
4. With your heels on the edge of the step, do 12 squats for 3 sets with a little break. Exercise will strengthen the strength of the Achilles tendon, tighten the buttocks.
5. Stand straight, legs apart already shoulders. We bend our knees alternately without lifting the socks off the floor.
6. Stand on your fingertips, straining your legs and buttocks, hold out for a few seconds, lower yourself.
7. Sitting on a chair, with arms lowered along the body, bend-unbend the knees.
8. Stand on your left leg, stretch your right leg forward, strain your buttocks. Rotate with foot, lower leg, whole leg. Change legs.

Do not get carried away with gymnastics. A heavy load, with pain in the legs, is contraindicated for a pregnant woman. Training should not be completely ruled out. Heels hurt during pregnancy in many women. Sometimes the only way out is to endure until the birth. is also treated during pregnancy. It is important to observe the hygiene of the feet, to do the pedicure in a timely manner.

During pregnancy, many changes take place in a woman's body, which are not always pleasant, sometimes they make you wonder, and sometimes they cause real discomfort and cause confusion and worries:

It is unpleasant for every woman when, for example, a so-called pregnant woman's mask appears on her face in the form of thick age spots;

It is difficult for the expectant mother to resist her sleepiness, which overwhelms her especially strongly at the beginning of pregnancy;

And the pain in the legs, more precisely, in the heel part of them, which they have never experienced before, is completely incomprehensible to them.

Nevertheless, pain in the limbs is the lot of many pregnant women.

Why does this happen?

Objectively speaking, pain in the legs for pregnant women - a completely understandable phenomenon and it is caused by the constantly increasing her own weight, as well as the redistribution of the center of his pressure. Here are the legs unaccustomed to such significant loads future mother and begin to hurt, but on the last stage pregnancy and swelling. However, it is not clear why the heels hurt during pregnancy, what causes this pain in the heel area of ​​the legs? Yes, so intense, which sometimes does not allow either to stand on them, or, even more so, to walk.

The majority of pregnant women feel an increase in this kind of pain towards the end of the day, after vigorous activity. However, it happens that pain occurs in the morning, and after the start of active walking, the pain gradually subsides. If you also have to deal with such painful phenomena, take it for granted: this, of course, cannot be called the norm, but it can be considered quite normal for expectant mothers. And the reasons for this phenomenon are as follows:

1. Displacement of the center of gravity in the body of a pregnant woman. A similar phenomenon can be observed in a woman in ordinary life when she stops wearing on high heels and goes down to a low heel. The same redistribution of weight in a similar manner affects the appearance of heel pains in her.

2. Weight gain of a pregnant woman. Of course, the appearance of excess body weight for a pregnant woman responds again high blood pressure and causes heel pain.

3. Swelling of the legs. A possible source of heel pain in a pregnant woman may be swelling of her legs. In this situation, this is a serious signal for the expectant mother about the need to limit fluid intake, because its retention in the body is very undesirable for both the woman herself and her crumbs.

There is an opinion of doctors, according to which the appearance of constant heel pain is a reason for going to a doctor, since you can miss the body's signal about a serious trouble in it. For example, this can manifest itself as varicose veins or salt deposition, which is popularly called "spur". The manifestation of pain while walking may signal a problem in cardiovascular system that cannot be ignored.

How can you help yourself?

When it comes to relief painful condition at home, you can apply cool foot baths - this the right way cope with their fatigue and swelling. To enhance the effect, you can dissolve a handful of salt and soda in water, and at the end of the procedure, lie down, slightly raising your legs to a dais, for example, from a rolled blanket. It is very good if someone from the household massages your heels, which is equally effective during pregnancy and with "spurs".

You should not take long walks, and even more so you should not stand for a long time, say, in a queue.

Particular attention should be paid to the quality of shoes during the period of bearing a child: it should be comfortable, preferably made of "breathable" materials, so that the feet are comfortable conditions... Today you can buy such shoes or boots in specialized stores or order individually orthopedic insoles for your shoes.

When constantly and exhausting heels hurt during pregnancy, you should definitely consult a doctor who can advise medications to relieve pain - an ointment, for example, or alcohol tincture, say, cedar nuts or some other folk remedy.

Of course, the pain in the heels is not catastrophic, but it can cause some discomfort. However, quite often it happens that you are suddenly surprised to find that there are no pains anymore. Everything passed after the birth of the baby as unexpectedly as it appeared (unless this is associated with another pathology).

Be attentive to yourself and don't ignore the pain!