Heel spurs treatments are numerous but not all of them are personalized for your heel pain. If you have been suffering for some time from heel spur which is also called as a calcaneal spur, then you must be struggling with a host of foot problems.
What is a Heel Spur?
A heel spur is an extra bone growth that projects out from a bone in your heel, which is known as the Calcaneus. A foot spur is usually diagnosed during a routine x-ray of the foot, where it looks like a pointed sharp projection jutting out from the Calcaneus of your heel bone.
What Causes Heel Spurs?
Injury or chronic strain to the tissues or tendons in your foot is dangerous and is the most commonly observed cause for heel spurs. There are some people who are prone to repeated injuries or chronic strain to their foot due to either the nature of their work or lifestyle or sometimes due to other medical problems like inflammatory diseases of the joints and bones.
Athletes deserve a special mention here as they are the ones who are challenged with repetitive and chronic strain on the foot and its tendons and bones.
Heel Spur Symptoms
It is quite common for heel spurs to occur without any symptoms. But when they do give rise to symptoms, the clinical picture could vary and here is a list of the common foot pain problem areas associated with heel spurs:
- bottom foot pain
- side foot pain
- foot pain top of foot
- ball foot pain
- back heel pain
- heel pain right foot
- pain around heel of foot
- top foot pain
- outer side of foot pain
- ball foot pain and toes
- bottom foot pain when walking
- pain in bottom of foot near toes
- arch foot pain
- nerve pain foot
- sharp pain in ball of foot
- burning pain in ball of foot
- severe heel pain
- pain on outside of foot when walking
- inside foot pain
- pain on side of foot when walking
- pain on lateral side of foot
- foot hurts on the outside edge
- pain in ball of foot and toes
- pain in ball of foot metatarsalgia
- side of foot hurts
- sharp pain outer edge of foot
- pain across top of foot
- pain on left side of left foot
- pain on outside edge of foot
- outer right side foot pains
- sharp pain on outside of foot
- foot pain side of arch
Heel Spur Risk Factors
There are various factors that increase the risk of developing plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. Here is a detailed list of the heel spur risk factors:
- Sports activities like running, ballet dancing and aerobics; that involve extreme stress on the heel bone and adjacent tissues. Particularly if there has been an earlier ankle sprain, which restricts ankle movement.
- Obesity.
- Pregnancy.
- Prolonged standing.
- Feet anomalies like flat feet / high foot arches.
- Ageing, especially after middle age and later.
- Ill-fitting shoes.
- Weakness and fatigue of foot arch muscles.
- Arthritis.
- Diabetes.
Heel Spur Diagnosis
If you have been complaining of foot pain or heel pain since a long time, then your physician will advise you to get an X-ray image of your affected foot.
The diagnosis is confirmed by identifying the heel bone spur which looks like a projection from the heel bone (calcaneus).
How Is Heel Spur Treated?
You now have a confirmed diagnosis of heel spur or calcaneal spur or calcaneal heel spur. In order to pick the best heel spur treatment, you must first know about the various heel spur treatments that are available, so that you can take an informed decision.
You can either read about all treatments in detail below or you can even choose to read only about the permanent cure of heel spurs. Click on the link below to be directly taken to that section of the post.
Heel Spur Conservative Treatment
Heel pain can be very incapacitating for those who have to deal with it on a regular basis and it is natural for patients to get frustrated. Heel spur conservative treatment should always be the first choice. Here is a detailed list of all the conservative treatment approaches for heel spur pain treatment.
1) NSAID for Heel Spur Pain Treatment At Home
Podiatrists prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) for heel spur pain treatment at home and speeding up the healing process by reducing inflammation.
While this may help in short term heel spur pain relief, taking these pain killers for prolonged periods of time can not only be ineffective in controlling the foot pain, but also lead to various unwanted and harmful side-effects.
2) Heel Spur Treatment Home Remedy
One of the most recommended home remedy for heel spur treatment is apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar supposedly helps in drawing away the excess calcium deposit on the heel.
Heel spur treatment with vinegar can be done in 2 ways. You could either use a towel soaked in apple cider vinegar as an in-sole for your shoes or you could soak your feet in a tub filled with warm water and half a cup of vinegar.
Another home remedy is to use ice on the soles of your foot. Applying ice can be done either by pressing ice-cubes to the underside of your foot or you could even use ice therapy heel spur slippers.
3) Heel Spur Treatment Exercises
There are many exercises that can be done as part of your heel spur home treatment, but the most useful and easiest one is heel spur golf ball massage.
This heel spur treatment with golf ball can be done sitting on a chair and involves rolling the underside of your foot on the ball.
This particular exercise could also be done using a tennis ball and is great to improve flexibility and strength.
4) Heel Spur Physical Therapy
Heel spur physical therapy deals with techniques like deep tissue mobilization and massage to relieve tension on the plantar fascia and tissues involved in the heel spur affection.
ASTYM therapy on the lower leg, calf muscles and plantar fascia is proven to be very effective. ASTYM therapy involves stimulation of natural healing response of the body, through massage.
It helps in boosting the natural regeneration process of the body and thus healthy muscles, tendons are regenerated. It also inhibits growth of undesirable scar tissue that lead to painful and restricted movements.
It has been established from numerous research findings that there are principally eight steps to complete rehabilitation of heel spur related plantar fasciitis and also in preventing recurrence of the problem again:
- Early injury protection that include relief of pain and control of inflammation.
- Regain complete range of movement.
- Reestablish strength of foot arch muscles.
- Reinstate strength of calf and leg muscles.
- Restore Normal Foot Biomechanics.
- Improve Your Running and Landing Technique.
- Resuming sport or normal work.
- Footwear evaluation.
5) Heel Spur Radiotherapy Treatment
A standard dose of external beam radiation therapy is used to treat the pain of heel spurs and plantar fasciitis.
6) Heel Spur Laser Therapy
This K-laser therapy makes use of red and near-infra red wavelengths of light to activate the natural healing process. It is quite beneficial in heel spur pain relief treatment and reduces inflammation and promotes quicker healing.
7) Heel Spur Treatment Shock Wave
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) demonstrates a promising outcome in heel spurs treatment.
This heel spur treatment by shock wave not only reduces pain by reducing inflammation, but also boosts tissue repair and regeneration of new and healthy musculoskeletal tissues.
8) Heel Spur Cortisone Treatment
In this heel spur treatment, the patient is given a cortisone injection into the stretched or affected plantar ligament. Cortisone has anti-inflammatory properties and may relieve heel spur pain in a few cases.
But heel spur treatment with cortisone shot is not an effective solution for managing this problem. The cortisone shot may be followed by a cortisone flare, where the original heel pain could flare up and worsen for quite a few days before relief, if any, is observed.
Most of the patients either do not respond to heel spur cortisone treatment, or need several shots of cortisone before they can see any results.
Moreover, there is always a risk of developing infection at the site of injection which can further aggravate the suffering.
9) Heel Spur Orthotics
Orthotic devices are quite helpful as a conservative and non-invasive kind of treatment for heel spurs.
Variety of heel spur orthotics are available in the market like heel spur pads, heel spur inserts, heel spur shoes, heel spur overnight splint, heel spur shoes etc.
Basically they all function as external supports to the plantar fascia and reduces the pain and discomfort.
10) Heel Spur Surgery
If conservative treatments for heel pain do not relieve, then your doctor might suggest heel spur removal surgery to cope with the intolerable heel pain.
As the name indicates, this heel spur surgery involves surgical intervention. A heel spur is a projection on the base of the heel bone, and irritates or tears the plantar fascia, which leads to heel pain.
It is important to understand that a heel spur surgery could be conducted with or without removal of the actual heel spur.
The pain that is associated with heel spurs is due to an inflamed plantar fascia. The Plantar fascia connects the heel bone to the toes and the projecting calcaneal heel spur can irritate and stretch the fascia and thus cause inflammation and subsequent pain and discomfort during walking or movement.
Heel Spur Endoscopic Surgery
Majority of heel spur related foot and heel pain cases can be effectively cured without surgery. Yet, for the remaining cases where conservative treatment methods do not relieve, Endoscopic plantar fasciotomy (EPF) surgery may be suggested by the doctor.
Endoscopic plantar fasciotomy (EPF) is recommended only for the release of the proximal medial aspect of the fascia.
Heel Spur Surgery Pros and Cons
Pros of Heel Spur Surgery
There does not appear to be any pros of opting for surgery, except that it is an option for those who do not respond to other non-surgical treatments.
Cons of Heel Pain Surgery
As with any major medical procedure, surgery for plantar fasciitis and heel pain shouldn’t be taken lightly because of a few significant risks and potential complications.
Heel Spur Surgery Cost
The actual costs may vary with many factors like your geographical location, insurance etc, but the approximate price range is around $10,000.
Heel Spur Surgery and Recovery Time
Recovery from heel calcaneal spur surgery can be quite slow and time-consuming.
If you are opting for surgery, get ready to spend at least 1.5-2.5 months before it becomes possible for you to easily walk around without another person assisting you.
It will take a good 3 months before you can engage in more rigorous activity or exercise.
Heel Spur Surgery Post Op
Even after you undergo surgery, you cannot expect immediate recovery. You might be required to wear a cast or brace for quite a few weeks to let the tissue heal properly.
Heel Spur Surgery Complications
Infections following surgery are one of the commonest heel spur surgery complications. This is a serious risk and to avoid this, the surgical wound should be cleaned and cared well and protected from getting wet.
Arch reduction is another complication that reduces the capacity of the foot to bear impact and weight even after surgery.
Some cases may suffer from nerve damage during heel spur surgery.
Then there are a few unfortunate cases where there is no difference in the pain and suffering before and after heel spur surgery. This could be due to incomplete or imperfect cutting of the plantar ligament.
Calcaneal neuroma is yet another reason for unrelenting pain might be the presence on a pinched or damaged nerve called a
Excessive weight bearing on the operated foot during the healing period can cause jamming of a joint in the area. This will lead to chronic pain in and around the heel of the foot, mainly on the top and outside of the foot.
Heel Spur Surgery Or Not
If you are still feeling confused and do not know whether to choose heel spur surgery or not, then here is a useful piece of counsel.
Heel spur surgery is NOT an effective solution for your calcaneal heel spur.
In addition to that, the costs involved are huge and the time spent in recovery and rehab is quite a lot. Not to mention that there are many cases of heel spur surgery gone wrong.
If you compare the benefits and cons of going under the surgeon’s knife for bone heel spur treatment, you will realize that there are actually no benefits. What you need is an effective, safe, surefire, non-invasive, affordable and permanent cure for heel spurs.
How to Cure Heel Spurs Permanently?
If you have finished checking out all the 10 options discussed above for treating foot spurs, then you have already realized that NONE of the 10 methods actually cure heel spurs.
If you are seriously fed up of putting up with the nagging foot problems and debilitating heel pain, you must know how to cure heel spurs permanently.
Live Positive has developed a heel pain treatment protocol that uses highly advanced healing therapy and it is also the only healing method that has developed a permanent heel spurs cure.
Our heel pain treatment medications are especially designed to dissolve and remove the bony outgrowth, thus helping you get rid of heel spurs forever. In addition, the Live Positive Multispeciality homeopathic treatment for heel spurs will also help in achieving the following goals:
1) Permanent cure of heel spurs.
2) Safe, quick and effective relief from pain in the heel and the foot.
3) Eliminates inflammation and swelling of joints and heel ligaments.
4) Eliminates stiffness and rigidity of the bones and joints.
5) Facilitates smooth and painless movements.
6) Boosts dead tissue repair.
7) Accelerates regeneration of new and healthy musculoskeletal tissue in the affected foot.
8) Safely and effortlessly cures the unwanted tendency of your body to deposit calcium and grow extra bone.
9) Effectively cures all your associated illnesses that you may be suffering from in addition to the foot spurs.
10) Holistically restores your mind, body and soul to a disease-free and healthy, harmonious and happy state.
