The majority of plantar heel pain is diagnosed as plantar fasciitis or heel spur syndrome. When historic or physical findings are unusual or when routine treatment proves ineffective, one should consider an atypical cause of heel pain. Stress fractures of the calcaneus are a frequently unrecognized source of heel pain. In some cases they can continue to go unrecognized because the symptoms of calcaneal stress fractures sometimes improves with treatments aimed at plantar fasciitis. Calcaneal stress fractures can occur in any population of adults and even children and are common among active people, such as athletes, sports enthusiasts, and military personnel. It is likely that the number of diagnosed calcaneal stress fractures will rise among practitioners with an increased recognition of their possibility.