Look at
heelspurs.com The message board is discontinued, but 'The Book' is a good source of information. There are good stretches and bad stretches. Easy does it--slow and steady...no bouncing. Wearing sneakers, I put the ball of my foot up on a block that's about 2-3 inches high, with heels on ground. In the kitchen, near the counters is a good place. Use the counter for balance. Gently straighten legs and lean forward just a smidge, to get a nice, easy stretch on the calves for 20-30 seconds, then relax. Do this 2-3 times a day for a few minutes, no more than 5 total. Ice the heel afterwards, if possible.
The pain in the heel is the minute little fibers of the fascia tearing away from the heel. These will make the spur that can be seen on x-rays eventually. The spur is horizontal and doesn't poke anything, though. In fact, I've had surgery on both heels for PF. One one of them, the spur was ground off, but it was left on the other heel (different surgeon), but both of them are fine. Sorry your wife is dealing with this. Getting an early start on treating it will help. Once it gets longer term, it's harder to get rid of. For me, it was the first stage of finding the PsA.....10 yrs of that got me a referral to rheumy. Lots of non-spondy people get it, though. Hugs for her.
