"When your foot strikes the ground, you feel like you’ve stepped onto a thumb tack.” That’s how some people describe their heel spur symptoms. Most mornings, you have heel pain when you get up. The pain from a heel spur subsides during the day. That’s because moving relaxes the muscular and fascial tissue in the soles of your feet and your calves. If you fail to act in time, that initially dwindling heel pain can develop into a heel spur. You’ll continually have sharp pain in your heel, and it restricts your daily life. Show
01. What is heel spur?A heel spur is a pointed, bony growth that can develop on your heel bone. Usually, it happens because the tissue running along the sole of your foot (the plantar fascia) becomes irritated. That’s why it is also known as plantar fasciitis. When your Achilles tendon is put under too much strain, it makes
this kind of bone growth more likely – in this case, it grows on the upper part (back) of the heel bone. The constant extra strain pulls on the membrane around your bones (periosteum), resulting in bony growths and deposits known as “heel spurs”. Heel spurs are not necessarily visible to the naked eye – they only show up on an X-ray. There are two types of heel spur: Lower heel spur (underside of foot; plantar area) This is a bony protrusion on the underside of the heel. A lower (or inferior) heel spur is caused by too much strain on the plantar fascia. Rear heel spur (on back of heel) This is a bony growth where the Achilles tendon attaches to the bone. In this case, you’ll get pain in the back of your heel. A rear (or posterior) heel spur is caused by too much strain on the Achilles tendon. Healthy heel Compared to the anatomy of a heel spur: the anatomy of a healthy heel. 02. What are symptoms of heel spur?
In the past, physicians would usually operate on a heel spur, but this only rarely offered long-term improvements for the pain. Here’s the good news: surgery is only necessary in the rarest of cases. In fact, you can alleviate heel spur pain with the tips provided below. 03. What causes a heel spur?The most common cause of heel spur is excessive or unevenly distributed pressure when walking or running.
“Rigid footwear, long sitting periods in everyday life, sports or too much standing - these extra strains start to cause heel pain and heel spurs.“ Dr. Torsten Pfitzer, holistic pain therapist and health coach “In general, the human body is designed for endurance running. Unfortunately, our feet nowadays barely get enough exercise. Rigid footwear and sitting for long periods in everyday life mean we don’t use the muscles and fascia in our foot arches enough. At the same time, we often end up doing too much standing up or sport while we have these imbalances. These extra strains start to cause heel pain and heel spurs.” Dr. Torsten Pfitzer, holistic pain therapist and health coach04. What can you do if you have a heel spur?There are treatments available for heel spurs and heel pain. What’s important is that you restore the natural tensile characteristics of your connective tissue, and strengthen your foot muscles. Ease pressure: Cold or heat
therapy: Movement: Strength along the length of your foot and calf muscles Comfortable footwear If the pain is more severe and persists even with the exercises, we recommend you visit your doctor. They will be able to prescribe you the right medicine, ointment, shockwave therapy or radiotherapy, if needed. Even so, you’ll only be able to get rid of the pain for the long term if you change your lifestyle and ease tension in your muscles and fasciae. 05. Here´s how you can prevent a heel spur:
Your products for heel spur exercises:Also interestingHow do you get rid of a spur in your heel?Heel spur treatments. Ice packs after walking and exercise.. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or aspirin.. Injections of anti-inflammatory medications such as cortisone.. Stretching exercises, especially before bed.. Physical therapy.. Resting your feet.. Why do you get bone spurs on your heel?Heel spurs occur when calcium deposits build up on the underside of the heel bone, a process that usually occurs over a period of many months. Heel spurs are often caused by strains on foot muscles and ligaments, stretching of the plantar fascia, and repeated tearing of the membrane that covers the heel bone.
Is walking good for heel spurs?Is walking good for heel pain? Depending on your specific circumstances, walking may help your heel pain, or make it worse. If you experience excruciating pain while walking, try to rest as much as possible until the pain subsides.
What happens if a heel spur goes untreated?For many more, however, heel spurs can result in significant, even debilitating, pain. Left untreated, spurs in the heel can limit your activity significantly, with many patients unable to bear any weight on the affected foot.
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