Foot pain can be persistent and occur daily, or something springs up randomly. Regardless of the category, you fall in, you’ll notice that the severity of the pain increases during the winter months.

How can the weather around you affect your heel? In fact, there are multiple ways such as:

1) Low Temperatures

Before going into how low temperature can increase heel pain, it’s vital to appreciate the effect of temperature changes on objects in the environment. Generally, exposure to heat causes objects to expand, while cooling causes them to shrink. 

This also happens with some parts of your body, such as tendons, muscles, and other connective tissues. They shrink a little and become more rigid and fragile when it’s cold. As they shrink, they’ll pull nerve endings and joints, resulting in pain, especially if there’s an underlying issue such as plantar fasciitis.

2) Weight Gain

The best part of the winter months is that they’re accompanied by the festive season. Since you’re in a celebratory mood during this period, you’re likely to eat more than usual. If you combine this with reduced movement during winter, it can easily translate to weight gain. Any additional weight you gain can further strain the arches, thus increasing heel pain. 

As you’ve seen, cold weather can cause heel pain to increase. However, this does not mean that the warm weather months are better. With planter Fasciitis, the symptoms are more common during spring and summer. 

However, unlike the direct effect, cold weather has on heel pain, during warm months, it’s more about your behavior. To understand, here are some of the contributing factors for increased heel pain during warm weather: 

1) Unsupportive shoes

What do you do when the winter clouds clear up? If you’re like most people, you’ll trade the bulky winter shoes for light and comfortable flip flops. 

Without knowing, doing so is like giving plantar fasciitis an open invitation into your life. This is because flip-flops and the likes offer little to no support. As a result, there’s more strain on the joints and tendons of your feet as you walk. Therefore, there’s a higher chance for the plantar fascia to tear, overstretch, or become inflamed. 

2) Increased Activity

After spending much of your time indoors during the winter, warm weather comes with increased activity. Moreover, it allows you to partake in all of the activities you enjoy. This may be a fitness routine or sports activity. Such activities involve a lot of standing, walking, and jogging which increase strain on your heels. 

Due to the repetitive and strenuous motions, inflammation or damage to the plantar fascia is very likely, resulting in pain. 

Another factor contributing to heel pain during the summer is fashion. As you switch back to the more fashionable high heels, you’re also putting the tendon at the bottom of your feet under greater pressure.