Heel pain points to cholesterol trouble

by **pegasus202** Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:49 pm

By megan rauscher
reuters

a painful achilles tendon could be a sign of an inherited tendency to have high cholesterol,which carries a high risk of early heart disease,UK researcher say wider recognition of the link between achilles tendon pain and so called 'hetorozy gous familial hypercholesterolemia..Or HeFH could lead to earlier diagnosis of this disorder,the team reports in the annals of Rheumatic disease.

In comment to reuter health principal investigator Dr.Paul n.Durrington from the manchester royal infirmayy noted that HeFH IS the most common genetic disorder in europe and the USA AFfecting 1 in 500 people.

He explained that it is due to a mutation of a gene controlling removal of cholesterol from the blood circulation.Level of cholesterol are doubled from birth and unstreated it leads to coronary heart disease early in life..Early diagnosis and treatment is thus important..One feature of untreated HeFH is that cholesterol is deposited not only in the arteries but also at certain sites in tendons..This may lead to swelling and painful inflammation of the achilles tendon..