Heel pain and foot stiffness

[FeelingSoOverwhelmed]

Suffering from heel pain/foot and ankle stiffness for months now. Worse on one side but does occasionally happen on both sides especially if I'm on my feet a lot, or first thing.
I have Axial spondyloarthritis (autoimmune condition causing pain and stiffness in the spine and sacroiliac joints) and also had a disc herniation earlier this year causing total foot drop. Luckily with time and physio it has resolved itself but I have some numbness and weakness on one leg/ankle/foot.
The thing is I can't get anyone to take an interest in what's causing the pain! My rheumatologist just said it probably wasn't inflammatory but didn't explain why. GP was uninterested. Physio did give me the usual heel raises/stand on one foot etc which hasn't really helped. And now I'm not sure what to do.

Any suggestions for anything I am missing? Any shoes I need to wear/avoid? I am avoiding being barefoot, rolling my foot over a roller and cold bottle, doing my exercises but it's so stiff and painful. I am on my feet all day at work and hoping to start training for a half marathon so I could really do with it easing up!

I suspect your feet are no longer making the correct movements and small articulations involved in walking. This is putting stress on soft tissue causing you to change your gait....vicious circles...

I'd google plantar fascitis which probably will give you similar exercises and advice for what you have. (You may well end up with PF if it gets worse anyway.)

I'd pay to see a private podiatrist if your GP won't refer you

Thanks - I agree it is possibly a gait problem although it does to some extent predate the disc issue... Which is why I thought inflammatory. I'm doing the exercises for plantar fascitis already but will keep them up. I think I can self refer to NHS podiatry so I'll give that a shot. The waiting list is long at the moment but I'm not sure I can afford private 😔
I've noticed scholl etc do insoles. Are they worth a shot?

I agree with the other poster re plantar fascitis, and it may be worth trying a foot spa or even better swimming for general overall health in the naturally anti inflammatory, low impact environment that is water. Good luck!!