What is Heel Spur?
If you have read our last article about plantar fasciitis, you would know this is one of the most common foot pain people face in their life. Many people who have plantar fasciitis have also encountered with heel spur. Heel spur is again one of most commonly found problems found in foot and it affects as good as 10% of the population. Though all of them do not feel the pain and only half of them face the pain due to heel spur. Though this syndrome is more common among people who are older than 40 years but can be found at any age.
Heel spur is the bony outgrow of the heel bone, better known as Calcaneus. Because of this people feel pain at certain areas of their feet. Let’s discuss about different causes of heel spurs.
Causes of Heel Spurs
The root is deposit of calcium on the underside of heel bone. There are multiple reason behind this deposit, which are,
- Strain on foot muscles or ligaments
- Stretching of plantar fascia
- Repeated tearing of the membrane covering heel bone
There are few actions which might increase the possibility of heel spur, for example,
- If you are overweight
- If you are running or jogging on hard surface
- If you are standing or walking for a long time
- Bad shoes which do not provide good support to your arch
- If you have flat feet or high arch and you are not taking proper actions to resolve them
- If you are suffering from diabetes
- Age. The reason heel spur is more common among older people is, as you age, your plantar fascia tend to lose its flexibility which thins the heels’ protective fat pad.
Natural Treatment of Heel Spur:
Non-surgical Treatment:
If you have read our Plantar Fasciitis article, you are almost there. All measures mentioned in that article is almost same here.
- Rest & exercise: take proper rest. Don’t put too much pressure on the feet. But though you can definitely do some exercise which will benefit you. Exercises like calf stretch or plantar fascia stretch will also help when it comes to heel spur.
- Ice: Do apply ice on your feet 3-4 times a day. Keep rolling the ice on the feet rather than keeping it at one place.
- Orthotic shoe insert: You can also insert an orthotic shoe insert in your shoes, this will give you some relief.
Even after continuing these your pain is not reduced (which is very unlikely), then only go for surgery. Do consult with your doctor or with us before that.
Surgical Treatment of Heel Spur:
90% people get cure by non-surgical treatment but if you still feel the pain, you need to go through surgery. Do contact us for any such situation. The surgery for heel spurs are mainly of two types,
- Release of Plantar fascia
- Release of the spur
Though this might be a little expensive but will give you quick relief.
