Bottom/back of heel pains

32 year old woman, 5’5” 170 lbs.

When I was around 22 I worked two jobs on my feet all day and went 3 months without a day off. At some point during those 3 months I developed sharp pains in my left heel that are worse when standing still rather than walking. They are the worst when I first lay down after a day on my feet then slowly get better with rest. If I spend a few days not being very active the pain goes away entirely. I recently began an active job for the first time since my early 20s and the pain is back. I feel relief when my partner digs a knuckle into the exact spot I feel the pain and moves it around, it hurts but it feels really good and the pain seems to go away sooner after that rather than just laying down and waiting. I hope I’m not damaging it further but the pain is so bad and it’s such a relief. Today it got so bad it was a throbbing pain. I do feel it in my right heel sometimes but it’s significantly worse in my left. There is no swelling or bruising, it looks completely normal. The pain is at the very very back of the heel, almost to the back of my leg entirely but still slightly under it, I hope that makes sense. It does not effect the rest of the foot or my leg.

It may be related to lower left back pain I developed around the same time 10 years ago but that pain is not happening with it this time, it comes and goes on its own. I know I should go see a doctor but it’s simply not in the budget with my partners chronic health condition, we’re already swimming in medical debt and I can’t afford it. Any help figuring out what this is would be appreciated. It does not seem to align with what I know about plantar fasciitis, but im not a doctor lol.

Thanks for any help. I’d love to find out if there’s any stretches or anything I can be doing to help reduce the pain as living like this was hard in my early 20s, it’s going to be a lot harder now lol.