There’s a reason why feet are often referred to as “dogs.” When they hurt, they bark. If it’s bad enough, they even yelp.

Ann Trush learned this firsthand recently. To combat her and her husband, Taras’, heart problems, they started power walking. It was great for her health – she lost 25 pounds – but it was a shock to her feet.

The pain started subtly enough, a mild burning around the heel that would kick in when she had been on her feet too long. By last week, it felt as if someone were constantly belting her in the foot.

“We went to the mall to shop, and you walk, walk, walk, walk here and there, and after a while I said forget those slacks, I’m not going to bother getting new pants,” Mrs. Trush, 69, of Waltz said. “My foot hurts so bad. And I’m walking on the balls of my feet and the doctor said I was making it worse doing that.”

After two months of pain that was getting worse instead of better, Mrs. Trush decided to go to the doctor. Monroe podiatrist Scott Hughes congratulated her for getting in when she did – many people suffer for years with heel pain before seeking treatment. And the longer they wait, the harder it is to treat.

Most heel pain is caused by a condition by plantar fasciitis. It relates to the stretching and tearing of the plantar fascia, the connective tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot. The repetitive tearing creates inflammation. Get enough inflammation and you develop something called a bursa, a sort of internal blister. It’s the bursa that makes those dogs yelp in pain.

“The classic symptom is sharp pain that goes away when you walk it out,” Dr. Hughes said. “Then, as the day goes on, you feel it again. There’s people, I’ll touch the bottom of their heel and they’ll jump. For some people, the bursa is so inflamed that they’ll be laying in bed at night and it’ll be pulsing and throbbing.”

Aside from morning foot pain, people with plantar fasciitis will also have pain recur throughout the day, as a person has been on her feet for a while.

“At the end of the day for sure it was bad,” Mrs. Trush said.

People experiencing heel pain should get their feet checked for two reasons: One, treatment is available and two, it could be the sign of another, more serious problem.

“The overwhelming majority of heel pain is plantar fasciitis,” Dr. Hughes said. “The danger is assuming that that’s what it is. Getting it checked is a screening type of things. It’s like getting a mole checked – it’s probably nothing, but it could be serious so why not get it checked?”

Other possible causes include rheumatoid arthritis, achilles tendonitis, bone bruises or Haglund’s deformity, a bone enlargement at the back of the heel.

People with heel pain often erroneously refer to them as heel spurs, Dr. Hughes said. A spur is a bony growth on the underside of the heel that is a result of the tearing and stretching of the plantar fascia, which runs from the ball of the foot to the heel. But there are people with heel pain who have no spurs, and people with spurs who have no pain.

“A heel spur is a symptom,” Dr. Hughes said. “It’s not the problem itself.”

Heel pain is more common in women than men, possibly because men generally wear more supportive shoes, Dr. Hughes said. Women also have more hypermobile feet than men. It is also more common in older people than younger, as tissues lose their elasticity as we age. Obesity also can aggravate it, and people with plantar fasciitis are often told that losing weight will ease the pain.

Because her problem was caught early, Mrs. Trush was given some simple treatments to try. Her foot is taped up to help relieve some of the pressure. She was shown exercises to elongate the calf muscles, which exert pressure on the plantar fascia. She was given a prescription for Vioxx, new insoles for her shoes and told to ice her foot every night.

Within two days, the pain diminished substantially.

“It’s 50 percent better already,” Mrs. Trush said.

For people with more advanced pain, cortisone injections bring relief. If, after six months of conservative treatment a person is still in pain, surgery to sever part of the fascia might be necessary.

“When you see people start having a problem like that, it’s better to go and find out about it,” Mrs. Trush said. “(Dr. Hughes) said it was a good thing I came in when I did because it would just get worse and worse.”