📌 Learn more about Bob Baravarian or request an appointment: docsfootankle.com

If your doctor recommended a steroid shot for your heel pain, watch this before you say yes. After 25 years and more than 25,000 procedures, I started seeing a pattern I could not ignore. Repeated cortisone shots were leaving patients worse off than when they started.

In this episode, I'm going to walk you through the three reasons steroid shots keep failing heel pain patients, what they are actually doing to your tissue over time, and what treatment looks like when the goal is real repair, not temporary relief.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Why a Foot Surgeon Stopped Recommending Cortisone Shots for Heel Pain
1:07 Reason 1: Steroid Shots Mute the Pain Signal Without Healing the Tissue
2:05 Why Repeated Injections Make Your Plantar Fascia Progressively Worse
2:51 Reason 2: Cortisone Near the Achilles Is Directly Linked to Tendon Rupture
4:21 The Patient Pattern That Made Me Stop Giving These Shots
5:24 Reason 3: Three Types of Heel Pain and How to Tell Them Apart
7:29 Why Ultrasound Imaging Must Come Before Any Injection
8:16 The Fascia Load Protocol You Can Start Tonight
10:15 Regenerative Alternatives That Actually Repair the Tissue


❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Do steroid injections fix plantar fasciitis?

No. Steroid shots reduce inflammation temporarily but do nothing about the mechanical stress causing the problem. Repeated injections weaken the tissue itself, leaving patients in worse shape than when they started.

Can a cortisone shot cause Achilles tendon rupture?

Yes. Corticosteroids break down the collagen fibers in the tendon, making it structurally weaker even after the pain is gone. Patients who return to full activity after a shot are loading a tendon that has lost some of its structural integrity.

How do I know if my heel pain is plantar fasciitis, a nerve problem, or an Achilles issue?

Pain worst on first steps in the morning on the bottom of the heel points toward the plantar fascia. Burning, tingling, or numbness along the heel points toward nerve entrapment, which is frequently misdiagnosed as plantar fasciitis.


📱 RESOURCES
Website: docsfootankle.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/la_foot_ankle_surgeon/


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ABOUT DR. BOB BARAVARIAN, DPM

Dr. Bob Baravarian is a Board Certified Podiatric Foot and Ankle Surgeon and Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, based in Los Angeles. With 25 years of experience and more than 25,000 procedures performed, he is one of the few surgeons to hold both foot surgery and reconstructive rearfoot and ankle certifications through the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery.

Dr. Baravarian serves as Chief of Podiatric Foot and Ankle Surgery at Providence Saint John's Medical Center and has spent a decade co-developing the metal-free bio-integrative fixation technology behind the Ghost Bunionectomy. He advocates for the least invasive solution that actually resolves the problem, not the one that is easiest to administer.


#HeelPain #PlantarFasciitis #FootSurgeon #AnkleSurgeon #FootAndAnkle