Heel Contusion/Bruises

[gymnast695]

*I'm not seeking medical advice!
Background- about a month ago one of my heels felt bruised and sore due to working skills like back tucks on beam and lots of repetitive tumbling without a sting mat or anything to absorb the landing. And of course pain doesn't stop me from continuing (definitely a downfall of mine when it comes to things like this) and I just kept working through it.
There are now two good size lumps on the bottom of my heel, and are bruised and tender. A family member of mine who's a nurse seems to think they're contusions and will go away with RICE, good shoes, etc. Not too concerned because the pain isn't unbearable and there are no symptoms of stress fractures or anything yet. I'm going on vacation and missing the next week or so of practice so hopefully they will get some rest and not become serious, and the swelling/bruising will subside.
After googling it, I found there are ways to tape it to alleviate pain and there are heel cups I could look into(although I dont want them) to prevent it from getting worse or reoccuring in the future. Anyone have experience with something like this?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you've got stone bruises. rest a couple of weeks and then try the heel cups. over time they will absorb.

 

[iwannacoach]

Will massive icing speed up the process. I had something similar after landing on my heels on a dismount. No not the quad quad because wieghtlessness hadn't been invented. I didn't have the lumps, so I don't know if ice helps in her case, but it seemed to help mine.

 

[kimskids]

Ouchy! That sounds painful!!

 

[gymnast695]

I've been icing and it helps a little bit but doesn't seem to be healing it any faster. And thank you Dunno, I was hoping you'd give some advice! I guess resting is the only thing to do... ugh.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

Ooohhhh... be very careful and take lots of time to let this heal!!! My DD did this exact same thing to her heel last July. She was doing standing backtucks repeatedly on her friend's basement floor..... welll, finally her heel gave out on her. I was so afraid she had fractured a bone. X-rays were negative, but her training suffered for the rest of the summer (she couldn't tumble, could work leaps or jumps on beam, couldn't even do any landings off of bars). It took literally months for this injury to heal... so just be careful and let your body do what it needs to do!