Causes Of Heel Spurs

Heel spurs are the result of a bony formation on the underside of your heel bone. Stress and pressure on the heel area are the greatest risk factors for their onset. That’s because excessive pressure on the heel and the nearby plantar fascia leads to repeated tearing and damage to the protective covering of the heel bone. As a result of the body’s natural repair process, excess bone can be produced, which can end up accumulating on the underside of the heel. Oftentimes these formations are quite small and asymptomatic, but if these bony deposits continue to develop, they can end up growing in size and irritating nearby soft tissue.

When you consider that stress and pressure on the heel are the two most common contributing factors to heel spur onset, it’s easy to see why certain activities can increase your risk of developing heel spurs. Those activities and factors include:

• High-impact exercise or athletics
• Poorly-fitting shoes
• Gait patterns or abnormalities that put extra strain on your heel
• Being overweight or obese
• Significant increase in stress on the heel area in a short amount of time

If you’re dealing with pain, sensitivity, tenderness or general discomfort in your heel area, especially if symptoms worsen with activity, consider consulting with a foot and ankle specialist like Dr. Silverman.

Treating Heel Spurs

If you are experiencing the symptoms we discussed above, take action before symptoms continue to get worse. Your heel spur won’t get better without active treatment, so the sooner you take action, the faster you can get back to walking without pain.

Specific treatment will be dictated on an individual basis, but for most patients treatment is two-fold. The first part of treatment focuses on protecting the heel area to allow healing to run its course. Limiting stress on the area or finding ways to protect the area with the help of something like a heel pad or walking boot can provide an enhanced environment for inflammation resolution. The second arm of treatment focuses on resolving the underlying issue that is putting extra strain on the heel area. Depending on your root cause, treatment could look like the following:

• Switching to a more protective and supportive shoe
• Wearing orthotic inserts or custom orthotics
• Losing weight to take stress off your feet
• Shifting athletics or exercise programs to give feet time off between high-impact activities
• Working with a specialist or physical therapist to treat walking abnormalities

The post Why Do Heel Spurs Develop? appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.

Causes and Symptoms of Heel Spurs

As we mentioned above, heel spurs are the result of bony calcium growths on the bottom of your heel, but why do they develop in the first place? Oftentimes they develop because of excessive stretching of the plantar fascia. This process stretches this band of tissue, and that results in microtearing of the membrane that covers the heel bone. As these tissues heal, small calcium deposits can form, and over time they can grow in size to the point where they become problematic. Because of the way in which they develop, some of the risk factors associated with heel spur development include regular running, poorly fitted shoes, excessive weight, spending a lot of time on your feet and having flat feet or high arches.

Symptoms of heel spurs include:

• Intermittent or chronic heel pain
• Foot pain while jogging or exercising
• A pins and needles-like sensation in their foot.
• Foot pain in the morning that dulls throughout the day.

Treatment and Prevention Techniques

As is the case with many conditions, heel spurs can be treated either conservatively or surgically. Rest isn’t always the best course of action when it comes to treating heel spurs, because the fascia will always be going from a relaxed state to an active state whenever you take your next step, which will cause flareups. Instead, you should consult with a foot specialist, who will likely recommend a course of stretching exercises to restrengthen the plantar fascia, physical therapy, shoe inserts/modifications, or exercise adjustments to take pressure off the heel. These treatment options will likely be coupled with over-the-counter NSAIDs, like acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

If conservative treatments fail, a more hands-on approach may be necessary. The next step may be to see if the spur responds to a corticosteroid injection to help relieve some of the inflammation that is brought upon by the spur.

Roughly 90 percent of people notice that symptoms decrease or disappear with conservative treatment, but that means about 10 percent of people will need surgical intervention to experience relief. Surgery usually has two goals, to release the plantar fascia and to remove the aggravating spur. The majority of patients who undergo this operation will achieve positive results, and only in rare cases are their complications like nerve damage, infection or scarring.

However, the best way to treat heel spurs is to prevent them from developing in the first place. As you may have guessed based on the causes, some of the best ways to prevent heel spurs is by maintaining a healthy weight, wearing proper fitting shoes, and by stretching and warming up prior to athletic activity.

The post The Causes and Treatment Options For Heel Spurs appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.