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Cut on heel

smithrh

smithrh

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 28, 2009
2,827
1,969
Ugh.

I cut the bottom of my heel on a seashell, it's taking it's time to heal.

It's not always painful, in fact I ran for an hour on it a couple of time w/o issue, but it's become a bit more problematic. Yes, I know "don't do that!"

No circulation issues, good perfusion down there with a fast capillary refill time.

Any suggestions, or is patience the key? Love running in the summer, kinda bummed...
 
smithrh said:
Ugh.

I cut the bottom of my heel on a seashell, it's taking it's time to heal.

It's not always painful, in fact I ran for an hour on it a couple of time w/o issue, but it's become a bit more problematic. Yes, I know "don't do that!"

No circulation issues, good perfusion down there with a fast capillary refill time.

Any suggestions, or is patience the key? Love running in the summer, kinda bummed...
Click to expand...

Wait...you're coming here for medical advice!?:eek:

If you have any concerns....wait for it...see a doc!:D
 
Shrink said:
Wait...you're coming here for medical advice!?:eek:

If you have any concerns....wait for it...see a doc!:D
Click to expand...

Oh, my orthopedist and I are very familiar with one another.... I'm on his volume discount plan. Unfortunately, I only half-kid. I put on a lot of miles and have had all of the maladies associated, but this one's new to me.

It's not a big cut, it's not infected, it's just a.... PITA (or PITH). It's certainly not to the point of needing professional medical attention.
 
smithrh said:
Oh, my orthopedist and I are very familiar with one another.... I'm on his volume discount plan. Unfortunately, I only half-kid. I put on a lot of miles and have had all of the maladies associated, but this one's new to me.

It's not a big cut, it's not infected, it's just a.... PITA (or PITH). It's certainly not to the point of needing professional medical attention.
Click to expand...

I'm not a doctor (nor do I play on on TV).

I had a bruised heel. It seems there is a 'pad' in the heel that absorbs the impact when you walk (or run). It takes forever to heal. If you have damaged that pad then expect it to take a long time to heal. I won't tell you what my doctor advised since I have no way of knowing whether it is appropriate advice. But you may want to read up on this pad in the heel.

Good Luck.

ps I bruised my heel when I lost my balance on a ladder. I was on the 3rd or 4th rung up (that is... not very high at all). I stepped awkwardly off the ladder and ended up landing squarely and badly on my heel. It took over 6 months to fully heal.
 
Soooo....umm, bind it with some bandages, throw in some antiseptic cream, and if it falls off you probably should have sought medical advice, in person, from a medical professional.;)
 
Thanks for the input - I am trying to stabilize it so walking on it maybe doesn't disturb it mechanically as much as it would otherwise.

I can predict the advice I'd get from a doctor - "stay off of it for a week" but as a runner I'm required to ignore such advice, as much problems as that may cause!

:D
 
smithrh said:
.....I can predict the advice I'd get from a doctor - "stay off of it for a week" but as a runner I'm required to ignore such advice, as much problems as that may cause!

:D
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since you won't do what a doctor would tell you to do........have you considered voodoo magic? :p
 
smithrh said:
I can predict the advice I'd get from a doctor - "stay off of it for a week" but as a runner I'm required to ignore such advice, as much problems as that may cause!

:D
Click to expand...

Totally feckless.

Maybe a cut will heal faster than full-blown tearing of the fascia. After you've ignored sense and your heel and sole feel attacked by fire ants 24/7 and someone suggests a steroid shot in the heel, get away, punch them if you have to and hobble away as fast as you can.
Not that you'll listen. :rolleyes:
 
smithrh said:
..........It's not a big cut, it's not infected, it's just a.... PITA (or PITH). It's certainly not to the point of needing professional medical attention.
Click to expand...

smithrh said:
Thanks for the input ...............

I can predict the advice I'd get from a doctor - "stay off of it for a week" but as a runner I'm required to ignore such advice, as much problems as that may cause!

:D
Click to expand...

Ah, I am at something of a loss, here. Really.

You post a thread seeking possible health/medical advice on a predominantly tech & Apple forum (okay, people seek advice about their love life, about what to do when they spill water on their MBP, about what coffee to drink or car to buy, so, that is more or less normal for this strange new fascinating world online......).......

....but, but, but, you post a thread here seeking such advice, while, 1) quite clearly stating that you have no intention of paying a visit to a medical advisor, (whose advice might be better, and certainly, such a person would be better qualified t give such advice, and 2) continuing to run on a torn and cut heel........have you taken complete leave of your senses? How on earth do you think your heel is going to heal if you keep running on it? 'Stabilisation' will not heal your (torn) heel, whereas rest and proper treatment (creams, medication, etc) - along with a visit to a medical practitioner - just might.
 
Macky-Mac said:
since you won't do what a doctor would tell you to do........have you considered voodoo magic? :p
Click to expand...

Interesting - tell me more. :D

CrickettGrrrl said:
Totally feckless.
Click to expand...

I gotta be me...

<looks up "feckless">

Hey! lol

chown33 said:
Or duct tape.
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This I've heard about, but I'm not thinking duct tape is necessarily sterile out of the box. I've also read that superglue can be effective, but I don't like the idea of dripping that substance onto wound.

While I've been light-hearted with my posts, I'm not an idiot. I was (and am) looking for practical advice on this minor issue, perhaps from some people who have actually experienced this. It hasn't risen to the point of needing medical attention, and yes, I'm smart enough to know what that point is.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Ah, I am at something of a loss, here. Really.

You post a thread seeking possible health/medical advice on a predominantly tech & Apple forum (okay, people seek advice about their love life, about what to do when they spill water on their MBP, about what coffee to drink or car to buy, so, that is more or less normal for this strange new fascinating world online......).......

....but, but, but, you post a thread here seeking such advice, while, 1) quite clearly stating that you have no intention of paying a visit to a medical advisor, (whose advice might be better, and certainly, such a person would be better qualified t give such advice, and 2) continuing to run on a torn and cut heel........have you taken complete leave of your senses? How on earth do you think your heel is going to heal if you keep running on it? 'Stabilisation' will not heal your (torn) heel, whereas rest and proper treatment (creams, medication, etc) - along with a visit to a medical practitioner - just might.
Click to expand...

This says everything I was thinking. Just damn well stop running for a week and let it heal!
 
I broke my heel and had to have two pins put in, the incision took a long time to heal due to the thickness of the skin. They did use glue rather than stitches which worked really well.
 
Gav2k said:
I broke my heel and had to have two pins put in, the incision took a long time to heal due to the thickness of the skin. They did use glue rather than stitches which worked really well.
Click to expand...

I think it is important to note that this pronoun refers to a medical professional (I hope) and that it would be unwise to willy-nilly inject cyanoacrylate (superglue) into one's own wound.
 
mobilehaathi said:
I think it is important to note that this pronoun refers to a medical professional (I hope) and that it would be unwise to willy-nilly inject cyanoacrylate (superglue) into one's own wound.
Click to expand...

Correct! That said I have glued cuts before. Stings a little but does the job
 
smithrh said:
Thanks for the input - I am trying to stabilize it so walking on it maybe doesn't disturb it mechanically as much as it would otherwise.

I can predict the advice I'd get from a doctor - "stay off of it for a week" but as a runner I'm required to ignore such advice, as much problems as that may cause!

:D
Click to expand...
If you ignore what you are told to do by a qualified professional then you will one day say "I used to be a runner."
Why would you take medical advice from people here if you won't even follow what your doctor says?
 
I've done that very thing - cut my heal on a sea shell. Takes a while to heal (pun intended :p) just because as you walk you reopen the cut.
 
An update from your local friendly OP.

I suppose I could have avoided much of the kerfuffle here had I been a bit more specific and said "minor" cut. Oh well, lesson learned. Also interesting that no one in this thread asked about the severity either.

At this point, it's pretty much healed. As I mentioned, I stabilized the wound with an first aid adhesive pad from J&J, this was actually a fairly stiff piece of sterile plastic that adapted to the shape of my heel.

Unfortunately, I ran out of those pads and could not find any more locally, so I went the liquid bandage route for the last 4-5 days, with a waterproof band-aid on top.

I also wore socks every day, and stopped wearing sandals, and wore shoes from getting up to going to bed.

(shock) I never stopped running. Look, if it had been horrible, I would have stopped. I could see it getting better each day. It was annoying, yes, hence my original post, but let's not confuse this with some sort of medical emergency where what I did was reckless....

O/O
 
mobilehaathi said:
Even if we could trust your assessment, we can't give you medical advice anyway.
Click to expand...

I don't think those laws apply to internet forums and outside the field. :p That said, it wouldn't be the wisest thing to trust unconfirmed credentials on the net, especially since the OP is not being evaluated in person.
 
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