Heel Spur
What is it?
Heel Spur is an outgrowth of the calcaneal tuberosity. It is an exostosis of the bone. It is produced by an over tightness and overload of the plantar fascia, developing smalls tears in the calcaneus attachment. This area might ossify inducing pain in the area, a pain that can be chronic. Many people describe this pain as a knife stab into the sole when they first stand up in the morning. The pain returns when the person stands up after sitting for a prolonged period of time.
Causes
- Biomechanical issues.
- Running on hard surfaces.
- Wearing bad quality shoes.
- Obesity.
- Flat or Cavus foot.
Symptoms
It might develop pain in the heel, but sometimes it is asymptomatic. It is frequently associated with plantar fasciitis. The pain increases, especially when we get up in the morning from bed and stand up, after sitting for a long time or doing activities such as walking or running.
Treatment
When it is an acute pain, we have to reduce the inflammation in the area and release the plantar fascia to decrease the tension in the area. If it is a chronic pain, we should do a biomechanical assessment to check if there are some biomechanical issues in the joint’s movements. After this we should change our habits, avoiding hard surfaces in the running and wearing proper shoes.
- Release the plantar fascia and calf.
- Ice pack to reduce the inflammation.
- Taping to release the tension in the area.
- Tailored insoles.
- Stretching
- Anti-inflammatory pills.
- Surgery (in extreme cases).
Advices
- Avoid flat shoes/flip flops.
- Stretching.
- Losing some weight (only if over-weighted) will help.
Enrique Simal Aguado
