Having battled this condition for 2 years, I had to resort to surgery. Mine was a fairly unique situation, as I had a bone spur that was rubbing on a connecting band on the side of my heel. The sawbones went in and "detached" the connecting tissue and I am on the road to recovery. I had the procedure on Aug. 6, 2004 and should be back to workouts next week. If the condition is not related to a bone spur, there is equipment that can increase bloodflow to the foot/heel area. Follow this link (or cut and paste it to your browser):
http://www.tpmassageball.com/.
I found some relief when the pain was at its worst with the massage ball and the baller block from this company. It also is good (the baller block) for achilles tendon massage. Gives a great deep tissue massage.