Plantar fasciitis (heel spur) is one of the degenerative diseases of the lower extremities. The pathology is characterized by the occurrence of painful sensations in the heel area, provoked by the active growth of bone tissue.
Such neoplasms are very similar to a thorn, for this reason they are called heel spurs.
The plantar fascia is a joint that supports the longitudinal arch of the foot. We can say that the plantar ligament is a place on which the weight of the human body constantly presses. Due to such a large load, microscopic tears periodically occur in the fascia.
Often, such lesions go away on their own, but sometimes this is not observed, and an aseptic inflammatory process begins (inflammation without the participation of bacteria). The pathological process involves nearby tissues, including the heel bone.
This part of the foot reacts to inflammation, which often happens with deforming arthrosis of the joints. Bone tissue begins to grow. It is called osteophyte. This is the whole mechanism by which a heel spur is formed.
More often than others, heel spurs occur in middle-aged people (after forty), and women are predominantly affected. It can be argued that medicine knows exactly all the factors that provoke the disease.
So, the causes of inflammation of the sole and its fascia should be called:
The main symptoms of a heel spur and its progression are severe pain in the heel area. It usually hurts during physical activity, and the sensation intensifies even more with serious physical activity or fast walking.
Many reviews say that the heel hurts after waking up in the morning or a prolonged state of rest. These pains are called starting pains.
Most of all discomfort worries the patient in the first half of the day. The pain in the heel is quite sharp, acute and sudden. In order to somehow reduce it, the patient is forced to constantly use a cane or try to step only on the toe of the affected leg.
To make a diagnosis, it is enough for the doctor to ask the patient about the symptoms, find out the time and nature of the pain. Also the doctor:
As a rule, bone growths in the form of a spike or nail are visible in the photo even with the naked eye (an osteophyte has a cap, a rod, a root). It is this neoplasm that provokes the symptoms of heel spurs.
There are situations when there is discomfort in the heel, but x-rays do not show the presence of a spur on the foot. Then it is necessary to exclude other diseases of the joints and bones. We are talking about reactive and rheumatoid arthritis.
However, in almost 99% of cases, diagnosing a heel spur does not cause any problems for doctors.
Heel spurs can be cured only with an integrated approach that involves working in several areas at once. Modern medicine knows more than one treatment method:
Due to the fact that micro-tears of the longitudinal fascia become an important factor in the occurrence of the disease, it is extremely important to provide conditions under which they will not occur. Walking should be made as comfortable as possible and physical stress on the legs should be reduced.
As medical practice shows, this can be achieved through the use of special orthopedic insoles. It is also very useful to use soft inserts with a recess provided in the center for the heel area. Such devices are necessary to ensure that the tissue around the osteophyte is not injured.
Signs of a growth on the bone are excruciating pain. Therefore, treatment of heel spurs requires reducing the symptoms of discomfort and reducing the inflammatory process in this area of the foot. For these purposes, the doctor prescribes medications from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Diclofenac, Ibuprofen (or other products based on the named active ingredients) are usually recommended.
You should know that such medications are prohibited for long-term use. They should be feared by those patients who suffer from digestive problems. NSAIDs provoke the development of erosions and exacerbation of problems with the stomach and intestines.
In addition to oral medications, the use of various external agents is indicated: gel, ointment, rubbing. They need to be used to relieve pain. Their significant advantage is local work, because such drugs do not have side effects on the body, unlike non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
If the pain syndrome cannot be eliminated using the methods mentioned above, then there is an urgent need to use more powerful medications - hormonal ones. Since they have many negative reactions when injected internally, to treat heel spurs they are injected directly into the plantar fascia and heel area.
In such cases, to relieve inflammation and pain, one or two injections of Hydrocortisone and Diprospan will be enough.
Treatment can be supplemented with traditional medicine recipes. There is an impressive list of medicinal plants that can help get rid of the problem.
Based on them, decoctions, tinctures, poultices and other remedies are prepared to cure heel spurs. Alternative medicine recipes can relieve foot pain, reduce inflammation and improve tissue nutrition in the sore heel. For example, treating heel spurs with vinegar and egg is a very interesting recipe.
It should be clearly understood that folk remedies alone are not enough. They must be properly combined with medication treatment.
Treatment of the heel bone is carried out by the following means:
They can be applied to the affected area, prepare solutions, and make compresses. The duration of treatment in each specific case should be discussed with the doctor.
A heel spur, photos are available on the Internet and in medical publications, recedes if treated with salt. You need to take 5 liters of water and dissolve sodium chloride in them.
Water with salt is heated to the maximum tolerable temperature and feet are hovered in it. They will need to be kept in solution every evening for 10 days. The recipe with salt helps to improve your well-being after only 4-5 procedures.
Many patients, to put it mildly, underestimate the healing power of gymnastics for diseases of the musculoskeletal system, and especially for heel spurs.
Meanwhile, proper execution of its complex helps to train the plantar fascia in such a way as to stretch it. For these purposes, every morning you should take care of your health and strengthen the fascia. Exercise can quickly increase your foot's resistance to injury.
You can clearly see what a heel spur looks like on our website.
Effective treatment of heel spurs requires the use of physiotherapeutic methods. Excellent results can be achieved if you practice:
However, shock wave therapy has become the most popular today. This procedure allows you to destroy a growth on the bone using a narrowly directed sound source that is beyond the hearing limit of a person.
An important advantage in favor of this technique is its painlessness. The patient gets rid of the spur and its symptoms without physical suffering. This is evidenced by rave reviews from patients.
It is carried out in those rare cases when none of the above methods has had the desired effect on health. During surgery, the doctor excises the affected area of the bone, which injures the surrounding soft tissue. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia. Moreover, there are 3 methods of intervention:
Modern technologies allow you to be discharged from the hospital within 2-3 days after surgery.
To prevent long-term treatment, health problems should be addressed in a timely manner. Preventing heel spurs and its consequences will help save not only time, but also money. Learn more about how to treat heel spurs in the video in this article.
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Belozerova’s hardware therapy clinic “M-Clinic” occupies an important place in the provision of medical care to the population of Chelyabinsk. We are located in a geographically advantageous location in the city, where the majority of people are concentrated and have access to highly effective medical care. The clinic works on methods of disease prevention and rehabilitation. An important point is the availability of quality certificates for existing devices, as well as licenses for the services provided. The medical center offers cosmetology services to both women and men.
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A heel spur, alas, is not a decoration or a means of protection: this is literally the name for a bone growth on the heel bone, often very painful. This is a fairly common pathology, especially in old age. It can be triggered by various joint diseases and unfavorable conditions for the heels. Which ones exactly and how to treat heel spurs?
Another name for heel spurs is plantar fasciitis. This name aptly reflects the cause of pain - inflammation of the muscle fascia, the membrane around the muscle.
Fasciitis can be caused by constant increased loads on the fascia, especially at the site of its attachment to the heel tubercle. As a result, it can become injured and inflamed. Over time, calcium growths appear on the heel as compensation for the load - this is a spur.
In the photo - heel spur
Heel bone growth is not a consequence of exclusively age-related degenerative changes, although older age certainly contributes to the accelerated development of the disease.
People of different age groups are at increased risk of developing spurs:
Many people consider flat feet a trifle, but for the musculoskeletal system it is a real disaster. Those who have such a “trifle” know how quickly their legs get tired when walking and what tension occurs in the calf muscles with a non-springing foot.
The following can lead to heel growth:
Thus, the causes of heel spurs in a patient sometimes lie deep inside, being the consequences of systemic arthritis, hidden infections or impaired metabolism.
Therefore, if a spur suddenly forms for no reason, without identifying external provoking factors, you need to be examined more thoroughly by taking a blood test:
Heel pain is caused by overstretching of the fascia while walking or standing.
An old spur, even a large one, may hardly hurt, except for attacks of exacerbation.
In fact, only 10% of cases of heel pain are related to a spur. In the remaining 90% of cases, heel pain may not be due to a growth at all, but for completely different reasons:
To determine the diagnosis, you need to contact a rheumatologist, except in the case when fasciitis is caused by injury - then they turn to an orthopedist.
The doctor examines the heel and probes its most painful point.
The photo shows an x-ray of a heel spur. The x-ray clearly shows a sharp protrusion.
Treatment of fasciitis is always carried out in the direction of the main cause that caused the disease:
The following physiotherapeutic methods can help reduce inflammation and pain due to fasciitis:
The use of special orthopedic insoles allows you to relieve the heel and reduce pain while walking and standing.
Constantly wearing insoles is recommended if plantar fasciitis is caused by flat feet or increased weight.
The use of silicone heel pads is especially effective.
Exercise therapy acts on heel spurs by strengthening the calf muscles and foot muscles, which actually eliminates pain and increases periods of remission, while NSAIDs and hormones only suppress pain symptoms, causing damage to health.
The following video presents a complex of exercise therapy for fasciitis:
Video: Therapeutic exercises for heel spurs
Heel spur removal is prescribed in rare cases:
Then, using a chisel, the growth is removed and, if necessary, all the affected tissue next to it.
However, conservative treatment methods are most often used.
One of the remedies is compresses and rubbing with alcohol tincture of cinquefoil.
They say that the following folk remedy helps well with heel spurs - an ointment based on fresh eggs, butter and 70% vinegar essence:
Video: Symptoms and treatment of heel spurs
The occurrence of such a nuisance as plantar fasciitis or heel spur brings a lot of inconvenience and pain when walking. It is impossible not to pay attention to this disease, since it will remind you of itself every minute, and, sooner or later, will lead to a doctor. Therefore, in order not to start the disease, it is better to immediately undergo examinations, find out the causes and begin treatment.
The appearance of a heel spur is an anatomical change in the foot in the form of a growth on the heel bone. The spur has a sharp shape, its tip is usually slightly curved, and it is directed towards the fingers. The growth irritates the soft tissue of the foot muscles, causing inflammation and pain. It can vary in size, from two to ten millimeters. It would seem to be small in size, but the pain caused to her can be unbearable.
Growths can appear on one heel or on both , it all depends on the cause of their occurrence. The disease occurs more often in old age due to changes in the worn-out body. At a young age, the appearance of a heel spur is also possible - it can occur due to injury, heavy loads on the foot (excess weight or playing sports), uncomfortable modern shoes and chronic diseases.
This visually invisible disease forces a person to change his usual lifestyle, as there are times when it becomes simply difficult for him to move. In severe cases, the doctor may even prescribe bed rest. Therefore, you need to understand the seriousness of the situation and contact a specialist in time.
The symptoms of this disease cannot be missed. In the initial stage, it manifests itself as mild pain, which occurs most often in the morning, then goes away. But if treatment is not started as early as possible, the disease will progress and the pain will become unbearable over time.
The occurrence of this disease can be due to various reasons; it often happens that a heel spur can be a consequence of some disease. It can lead to its formation
To find out the nature of the spur and its causes, the doctor must first conduct an examination and, by palpating the heel area, determine the area of pain.
By ordering an x-ray of the foot, the doctor will be able to determine the size of the growth or its absence - perhaps the cause of the pain was not a spur that appeared, but a crack in the heel bone. A crack can occur even after a minor injury to the foot. If no damage in the form of a crack or spur is found, pain in the heel area may indicate the onset of an inflammatory process or a complication of arthritis.
To find out what treatment should be prescribed, it is necessary to conduct a full diagnostic examination and find out the specific cause of the disease, since it may be a symptom of a more serious disease, from which treatment should begin. This requires not only radiography, but a number of other tests that will show whether the metabolism is impaired.
The first thing the patient wants is, of course, freedom from pain when walking. To do this, it is necessary to stop the inflammatory process in the heel area. To relieve these pathologies, orthopedic or physiotherapeutic treatment may be prescribed; in severe, advanced cases, surgical intervention is possible.
Typically, such treatment consists of using anti-inflammatory gels, ointments and tinctures - this is done to relieve inflammation and pain in the heel area. If properly selected products are used and procedures are carried out regularly, the pain usually goes away within 20-30 days. For treatment, drugs such as hydrocortisone, potassium iodide, novocaine and other pain-blocking drugs are used. Sometimes an extreme measure is used - injections of anti-inflammatory drugs - they are given to the area of inflammation, i.e. into the heel area of the foot. This treatment method is quite painful and must be carried out by a specialist doctor. Two or three injections are enough for the patient to feel relief. After these procedures, a person will be able to forget about heel spurs for several years, and if he does not neglect preventive measures, he can be completely cured.
The use of physical therapy is more common for the treatment of this particular disease. The most common and effective procedure is shock wave therapy. It consists in the fact that the heel growth is exposed to ultrasound, destroying and smoothing the spur. Magnetic therapy, electropheresis, laser and radiation therapy, and UHF are also used for the same purposes.
Massage and special therapeutic exercises are also included in the complex of physiotherapeutic prescriptions of the doctor. They perfectly help relieve pain and activate blood circulation in the legs.
To relieve the heel bone from the load when walking, orthopedic heel pads and insoles are used, which also helps relieve pain.
In folk medicine there are many effective, time-tested remedies that really help in the treatment of heel spurs. Here are some simple and affordable recipes that you can use at home.
Perhaps folk remedies are quite effective in treating the disease, but still the best option is to use them in combination with physiotherapeutic and medicinal methods prescribed by a specialist.
Other folk remedies can be found in the article. And also, what else can you use to cure heel spurs at home?
In order to never encounter this scourge, it is better to take care of your feet in advance and take preventive measures. They will be useful not only for the health of the legs, but also for the body as a whole. To prevent this disease, you need to take foot baths with sea salt at least once a week and massage your feet after steaming them. This procedure is not only useful, but pleasant.
Also, to avoid illness, you should always choose comfortable shoes. You can’t stay in high-heeled shoes for a long time - it’s very harmful. The load on the foot should be distributed evenly so that the heel area is not overloaded. If you have flat feet, you need to put orthopedic insoles in your shoes; they will also help to properly distribute the load on the foot.
When jumping or running, you must not allow your foot to land hard on your heel to avoid injury.
All medications and physiotherapeutic procedures can be used only as prescribed by a medical specialist, based on the results of the diagnosis. Thoughtless self-medication can be dangerous to human health.
A heel spur is not the most pleasant phenomenon, with which many are familiar firsthand. Such a formation on the foot causes great discomfort to the victim, sometimes not even allowing him to fully step on his foot. In addition, treating heel spurs is very difficult.
What is a heel spur, why and who gets it, characteristic symptoms and treatment - all this below.
If the foot tendon is subjected to excessive stress, the anatomical alignment of the heel bone is disrupted. As a result, a wedge-shaped or spiky-shaped bone formation begins to form (see photo). This is a heel spur.
Just a few decades ago, spurs were a fairly rare occurrence, the main cause of which was considered to be injuries. Today, heel disputes occur much more often, and mainly in women. Age does not play a key role.
Information: more than 80% of cases of the disease occur among residents of the metropolis. The causes are injury during sports and wearing high-heeled shoes with the wrong last.
Heel spurs occur on one or both feet. In mature patients, the main causes of this neoplasm lie in age-related changes in the body.
But in women under 35 years of age, spurs appear due to poor-quality, tight shoes or physical overload. These are the main and most common causes of the disease.
Symptoms of the development of heel spurs:
The third and fourth symptoms occur in an advanced form of the disease if treatment is delayed.
In addition to the aging of the whole body and uncomfortable shoes, the reasons for the development of this pathology can be:
Some other chronic diseases can also cause changes in the bone tissue of the heel.
To accurately establish the cause, you always need to take into account the uncharacteristic symptoms that the patient complains of - pain in other parts of the body, disorders of any of the systems, rashes, and so on.
Most often, a clinical examination is sufficient to determine with almost 100% certainty the presence of a heel spur. The compaction is felt upon palpation, so its location and size can be determined. The patient complains of pain when pressing on the seal.
Pain is a consequence of the inflammatory process in the heel bone. To confirm the diagnosis, the patient is sent for an x-ray. In the early stages, the growths on the bone will not be visible, but in later stages they can be easily detected on the back of the heel bone. The photo shows the location of the bone growth.
Differential diagnosis is often required, since this pathology has symptoms similar to some others. This needs to be done to determine what exactly and how to treat first.?
Treatment with various methods and medications are prescribed only by a doctor after completion of the examination.
In most cases, the development of heel spurs can be prevented or stopped at a very early stage. First of all, you need to control your weight and not expose your lower limbs to unnecessary stress. If possible, you should avoid wearing narrow, tight shoes with heels for long periods of time.
If any joint diseases, spinal pathologies, or flat feet are diagnosed, treatment must be carried out promptly and thoroughly. This will help avoid complications, among which heel spurs are very common. A good prevention is the use of orthopedic insoles.
At the initial stage, when heel spurs are still difficult to diagnose, but the first signs are already noted, it is necessary to treat the disease using physiotherapy methods.
Treatment is carried out in two ways:
Shock wave treatment is worth mentioning separately. This technique is quite new; the formation is affected using directed ultrasound. Relief occurs immediately, as patients note. The disadvantage of this procedure is that it has a number of contraindications. Unfortunately, not everyone can be treated with it.
Laser treatment has fewer side effects. The beam only targets the soft tissue surrounding the heel seal. As a result, the inflammatory process is stopped and pain is reduced. The spur itself does not resolve, so it must be treated in this way constantly.
Treatment of spurs with x-rays is considered one of the most effective. There is also no effect on the spur itself; only the sensation of pain due to inflammation will be relieved.
In addition, heel spurs can be treated with the following procedures:
Any treatment for heel spurs is aimed at eliminating pain and discomfort. In the future, the patient himself must take care of preventing relapse, knowing what causes the development of the disease.
Despite all the achievements of modern medicine and the various techniques used to treat heel spurs, it is not possible to completely get rid of it, and the same applies to the case when a spur is found on the toe.
Medicines, massage, even laser therapy only guarantee that the patient will get rid of pain for some time and the inflammation will not develop further. Therefore, it is worth repeating once again in conclusion that it is in this case that prevention is necessary.
A heel spur is a disease that occurs due to an enlargement of the heel bone on the side of the sole. The painful formation has the shape of a thorn or blade, which is why it received its name in medicine. Sometimes you can hear another name for the disease – “plantar fasciitis”. It is necessary to know the symptoms of heel spurs, diagnostic rules and treatment methods.
Heel spurs appear quite often in patients over the last 10 years. The disease is diagnosed in 10 percent of all muscle and bone pathologies. Women over 40 years of age are most often at risk. But this does not mean that the disease can bypass patients at an earlier age. Heel spurs are easy to treat in the early stages of the disease.
Heel spurs appear when there is heavy load on the feet. If there is a lot of tension on the heel fascia, then the disease begins to progress. Throughout your entire life, when walking, there is a load on this particular area. Therefore, by old age, a heel spur appears in 25% of all patients.
Causes of the disease:
The most important symptom is pain in the heel area. This is the first signal of the appearance of a heel spur. During the development of the disease, the following symptoms can be detected:
Identifying a heel spur is quite easy. If the patient tells the doctor about pain and shooting in the heel, then the specialist will already be 90% aware of the heel spur. To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor will press on the middle of the heel and on the side area. If at this moment the patient begins to experience severe pain, then the diagnosis is fully confirmed. After this, the doctor will evaluate the mobility of the foot and the stage of the disease.
Additionally, the patient will be sent for an X-ray of the heel. Thanks to this procedure, the doctor will understand the size of the spur, its condition and its exact location. Sometimes a spur does not cause pain and is discovered on an x-ray by chance when diagnosing another disease.
On the x-ray, the doctor will see a curved spike in the heel area. At the first stage of the disease, the spur will be round in shape. Subsequently, the growth increases and can reach a length of up to 11-12 mm. At an advanced stage, the spur becomes shaped like a bird's beak.
The doctor may additionally require the patient to attend an MRI. Such diagnostics will help to see the condition of the tissues around the spur. You can also use ultrasound of the heel area. However, this diagnostic method is used quite rarely. Typically, an ultrasound scan is performed during therapy to monitor recovery.
Many patients mistakenly call a heel spur a spine. It is necessary to know the difference between these diseases. A heel spur forms under the soft tissue on the bone in the heel area. The spine appears on the sole or palm of the hand. It manifests itself due to infection with the papilloma virus. It can be visually detected on the skin; the disease is similar to a small nodule. The spine should be treated at the first manifestations, as the disease can develop into a cancerous tumor.
The usual course of treatment and procedure is prescribed by the attending physician after an accurate diagnosis of a heel spur. The following procedures effectively cope with the disease:
It is important during all procedures to reduce the load on the painful foot. At the same time, the doctor will prescribe special exercises to restore mobility.
During treatment, you must follow the following doctor’s recommendations:
To relieve pain and quickly treat heel spurs, doctors prescribe non-steroidal medications. The healing ointment should be applied 3-4 times a day to the heel. The course of treatment is 2 weeks. After this, the doctor conducts additional diagnostics and can, if necessary, extend therapy.
To improve metabolic processes in the damaged area, it is necessary to use Dimexide gel or Medical bile. Doctors prescribe natural-based patches for heel spurs.
At an advanced stage of the disease, doctors prescribe injections. Injections help relieve pain and severe inflammation. Only the attending physician can give an injection. It determines the dosage and depth of needle insertion. Incorrect injection can lead to inflammation, necrosis and dangerous osteoporosis.
To relieve severe pain, the doctor prescribes novocaine injections 2 times a day. To get rid of accumulated calcifications and relieve inflammation, the doctor uses Diprospan, Kenalog and Flosteron. The optimal number of injections is 2-3 per day.
Medicines and procedures should be combined with additional therapy for a quick recovery:
In addition, you need to do therapeutic exercises prescribed by your doctor. Before performing the exercise, the patient must put athletic tape or adhesive tape on the foot area. Then fixation will help reduce the load on the heel spur.
During therapy, it is necessary to wear a special orthosis on the leg at night. It helps to fix the foot at a right angle while sleeping. The next morning the patient will not suffer from pain and inflammation in the heel.
If all treatment methods are ineffective, the doctor prescribes surgery. The surgeon makes a small incision in the heel, removes the dangerous growth and sutures the tissue. Thanks to modern equipment, the incision will be no more than 5 mm. At the time of surgery, doctors see the whole picture on an x-ray. Surgery for heel spurs is rarely resorted to, only in advanced stages of the disease.
One of the most effective methods of treating heel spurs is shock wave therapy. The heel is exposed to special equipment using sound waves. After the procedure, pain and inflammation disappear.
If you undergo a course of shock wave therapy, then calcifications in the heel area will be removed, swelling will go away and metabolic processes will accelerate. The duration of the procedure is half an hour. This treatment method can be used every 3-5 days as prescribed by a doctor. To completely cure the disease, it is recommended to undergo 6 procedures.
Doctors identified the following advantages of successful wave treatment:
The laser procedure relieves swelling, pain and inflammation. After a course of treatment, damaged tissues regenerate faster. It must be remembered that the spur itself cannot be removed with a laser. This method only eliminates the negative symptoms of the disease.
The first course of treatment consists of 10 procedures. You must visit them every day without skipping. After 2 weeks, laser therapy can be repeated.
Experts have identified the following advantages of laser treatment for heel spurs:
The procedure allows you to relieve pain, inflammation and crush deposited salts in the pain area. At the time of treatment, ultrasonic waves from the device are applied to the heel. The procedure takes only 30 minutes a day. For treatment to be effective, you must attend 7 procedures. There should be 7 days between each session.
The main advantages of ultrasound treatment:
Ultrasound therapy is not a cheap pleasure. Therefore, not all patients visit her. The effectiveness of the procedure is 90 percent. This treatment has some contraindications:
The painful area is targeted using X-rays. In this case, there will be no negative impact on the body, since the procedure is performed only on the heel area. Typically, this method is used as a last resort if other procedures have proven ineffective for the patient. When treated with x-rays, the nerve endings in the heel are blocked, and the person does not experience pain at all. The duration of one procedure is 10 minutes. The course of treatment consists of 10 procedures.
Doctors have identified the following advantages of x-ray treatment:
Pregnant women and patients over 40 years of age are prohibited from attending this procedure. It is also not recommended to resort to x-ray treatment for blood diseases and radiation pathologies.
This method can be used after surgery. The procedure perfectly heals scars and wounds without leaving any marks on the damaged area. This method is often used for additional treatment of heel spikes. If the patient undergoes such a procedure, then the risk of recurrence of heel spurs is reduced.
To prevent the appearance of heel spurs, it is necessary to treat flat feet and spinal diseases in a timely manner. You also need to choose the right shoes for everyday walking. It should have an orthopedic insole. High-heeled shoes can be worn no more than 1-2 times a month, so as not to put a lot of stress on the heel. At the first symptoms of pain, immediately consult a doctor and begin therapy. Then you can get rid of heel spurs quickly and without surgery.