Heel spurs are bone growths in the form of a spike or beak on the sole of the heel bone or at the site of attachment of the Achilles tendon.
Treatment of heel spurs is a long process. Excess weight, diseases of the spine and large joints of the lower extremities, flat feet - all this can provoke the appearance of heel spurs.
Boil 6-8 potatoes in their jackets, drain the water, crush and dilute with kerosene to a thick, tender puree. Place your heels in this hot puree. Keep it until it cools down (15-20 minutes).
Then wipe your feet with a warm, damp cloth, put on woolen socks and go to bed. For some, 3-4 procedures are enough. The largest number of procedures is 12.
For treatment you will need 10 teaspoons of honey, 10 teaspoons of oatmeal and a little patience. We do the procedure at night. Take 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of oatmeal, mix, you get a small cake.
We first steam our feet, wipe them dry and apply them to the sore heel. We secure the cake with a bandage, polyethylene and put on socks. We do this 10 times. After the full course the pain will go away.
Wet compresses should be applied to the spur. To prepare a compress, you first need to obtain aloe juice. A plant that is 5 years old is suitable for this purpose. Cut the leaves from the aloe and pass them through a meat grinder.
Squeeze the resulting mass through a nylon stocking. For a dose of medicine you need 500 g of this juice. Pour half a liter of pure alcohol into the juice, 5 bottles of valerian infusion (sold at the pharmacy), 10 tablets of analgin and aspirin (tablets should be 0.5 g each, for a different weight, calculate a different dosage) and 2 tablespoons of ground red pepper.
Crush the tablets first, otherwise it will be difficult to dissolve them. Mix everything, pour into a 2-liter jar and close the lid tightly. Place the jar in a dark place and let it stand for exactly 2 weeks.
When the infusion is ready, apply wet compresses to the spur area at night. Soak the gauze well in the infusion and apply it to the spur, put cellophane on top and secure everything with a bandage, put a sock on top.
With regular use of this remedy, the spur will soon resolve.
To get rid of growths, bumps, etc., crush 6 aspirin tablets into powder, dilute them in 50 mg of 5 percent iodine, and apply to sore areas morning and evening. The course of treatment is one month.
In order for bumps, growths and spurs to completely resolve, you need to drink silicon-activated water. Use it for cooking, tea, etc. The salts will gradually begin to disappear and your legs will stop bothering you. Also apply lotions to sore areas with a gauze bandage soaked in flint water.
Camphor oil for growths on big toes. To get rid of growths on your big toes, use the following recipe. Spread the cone first with camphor oil and then with iodine (in no case vice versa!).
This should be done after steaming and drying your feet. If you carry out this procedure regularly, the bumps will disappear after a while.
Read more on the next page...
Heel spurs are bone growths in the form of a spike or beak on the sole of the heel bone or at the site of attachment of the Achilles tendon. Treatment of heel spurs is a long process. Excess weight, diseases of the spine and large joints of the lower extremities, flat feet - all this can provoke the appearance of heel spurs.
Treatment of heel spurs and growths with folk remedies:
Boil 6-8 potatoes in their jackets, drain the water, crush and dilute with kerosene to a thick, tender puree. Place your heels in this hot puree. Keep it until it cools down (15-20 minutes). Then wipe your feet with a warm, damp cloth, put on woolen socks and go to bed. For some, 3-4 procedures are enough. The largest number of procedures is 12.
For treatment you will need 10 teaspoons of honey, 10 teaspoons of oatmeal and a little patience. We do the procedure at night. Take 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of oatmeal, mix, you get a small cake. We first steam our feet, wipe them dry and apply them to the sore heel. We secure the cake with a bandage, polyethylene and put on socks. We do this 10 times. After the full course the pain will go away.
Crush the tablets first, otherwise it will be difficult to dissolve them. Mix everything, pour into a 2-liter jar and close the lid tightly. Place the jar in a dark place and let it stand for exactly 2 weeks. When the infusion is ready, apply wet compresses to the spur area at night. Soak the gauze well in the infusion and apply it to the spur, put cellophane on top and secure everything with a bandage, put a sock on top.
To get rid of growths, bumps, etc., crush 6 aspirin tablets into powder, dilute them in 50 mg of 5 percent iodine, and apply to sore areas morning and evening. The course of treatment is one month. In order for bumps, growths and spurs to completely resolve, you need to drink silicon-activated water. Use it for cooking, tea, etc. The salts will gradually begin to disappear and your legs will stop bothering you. Also apply lotions to sore areas with a gauze bandage soaked in flint water.
To get rid of growths on your big toes, use the following recipe. Spread the cone first with camphor oil and then with iodine (in no case vice versa!). This should be done after steaming and drying your feet. If you carry out this procedure regularly, the bumps will disappear after a while.
First, steam and dry your feet. Then you can make an iodine net on the cones. Then you need to start making compresses from fresh chicken bile; in extreme cases, you can buy medical chicken bile at the pharmacy. Apply compresses every night, moisten the cotton wool and apply to a large area. Wrap it in cellophane, and then with a warm rag, and in a sock. In 1.5-2 months the cones will completely disappear.
In the morning, make a mixture of eggs and honey. Take the yolk of a chicken egg (preferably from a domestic chicken), add 1 tbsp. l. natural honey, grind everything well. Place this mixture in the refrigerator. In the evening, steam your feet, then wipe them dry, make a compress on your heels from this mixture and wrap your feet warmly until the morning. In the morning, remove everything and continue the procedure until the spur resolves. Before applying, warm the mixture slightly in a water bath.
550 mg distilled water. 0.75 g of salicylic acid, 50 grated baby soap, 500 g of purified turpentine, 100 g of alcohol (96%). The solution is prepared as follows. Distilled water in a container is brought to a boil. Then pour salicylic acid into it, stirring, add 50 g of crushed soap and stir until it is completely dissolved.
The hot solution is poured into a bowl with turpentine and then alcohol is added. Mix everything thoroughly. Store the contents in a glass container with a tightly closed lid out of the reach of children. When preparing the solution and using it, avoid contact with the eyes and mucous membranes.
For foot baths, place a basin filled with water in the bath 37
39°C, sometimes up to 40°C, add to it, after shaking well, the emulsion at the rate of 1 ml per 1 liter of water, if tolerated, adjust to 3-4 ml per 1 liter. Baths are done daily for 15 minutes, 12-15 procedures per course. If there are ulcers, abrasions, or irritation on the skin, baths are contraindicated. The use of baths relieves the inflammatory process, and along with it the pain goes away.
If you have spurs on your feet, try a very simple remedy: in the evenings, after steaming your feet, trample them on a bunch of stinging nettles thrown on the floor for 30 minutes. 5 sessions are enough.
Pour vinegar essence (70%) into a dark glass bottle halfway. Place 6 dark blades there, broken in half. Wait 1-1.5 months. During this time, the liquid in a tightly closed bottle will turn brown. Moisten a cotton swab with the solution and lubricate the spurs and spines several times a day. Do this until it disappears completely.
Heel spurs can be resolved by adding a pinch of red pepper to the sock, under the heel. Walk with him all day. Relief will soon come.
First, steam your feet in hot water with a small amount of soda added, then apply a small piece of mushroom or simply gauze soaked in kombucha. After 3-4 hours, the gauze dries out and needs to be moistened again. In 10 days you will completely get rid of the spur.
Collect pine shoots with pollen and cones, young spruce cones and forest heather. Dry, chop everything and mix in equal parts. 1 tbsp. pour 1 liter of water into the mixture, bring to a boil and keep on low heat for 10 minutes. Pour hot water into a large basin, add the broth and steam your feet for 20-30 minutes, adding hot water as necessary. Do this at night every other day, take about 10-15 procedures and get rid of heel spurs.
Beef meat will help with heel spurs.
Beat the pulp with a hammer and apply to the problem area overnight. On top there is polyethylene and a bandage. For everything to go away, 3 procedures are often enough.
For heel spurs, compresses are made from lilac tincture. Dried lilac flowers are poured with vodka in a ratio of 1:10. Infuse for 8-10 days in a tightly closed container.
Do the procedure at night. Buy 6 sachets of magnesia at the pharmacy and dissolve in 1 liter of water. Heat the magnesia solution (to about 60°C), pour it into a basin and place your heels in it, steam for about 10 minutes. Then, after wiping your heels dry, apply a compress from the liquid valerian solution to them. Insulate thoroughly (wear warm socks) and do so for the whole night, remove the compress in the morning. 3a 10 procedures you will forget about heel pain, heel spurs will leave you
Spurs are a fairly common disease, especially plaguing older people. Try a proven recipe: take 100 ml of alcohol, 100 g of salt and 10 g of vinegar essence, add water to 3 liters. Heat the water and pour it into the basin. Temperature - so that your feet can tolerate it. Soar your feet until the water cools down. You can store the composition in a tightly sealed glass container. Reusing, reheat, add 1 tbsp. spoon of essence and 1 tbsp of alcohol. You will be cured of spurs in 2 weeks of daily treatments.
Heel spur (plantar fasciitis) is a chronic pathology that negatively affects the patient’s lifestyle. Excruciating pain is caused by bone growth - osteophyte, which compresses the surrounding soft tissue. It is a pointed spike, the size of which can reach 12 mm. The tumor is often invisible externally, but its presence can be determined simply by pressing on the heel area. In the ICD, a heel spur is presented under code M77.3.
The plantar fascia is a fibrous tissue or ligament that connects the heel bone to the metatarsals. It is responsible for maintaining the longitudinal arch of the foot. When walking or running, the tissues of the plantar fascia take the greatest load in the area of its attachment to the tubercle of the heel. Normally, microtraumas of this kind heal and recover on their own. However, constant impact on the fascia often causes transformation of the periosteum.
The mechanism of development of pathology may be associated with:
In places where inflammation develops, salts gradually accumulate, forming an osteophyte or heel spur.
Every year, more than 2 million people visit their doctor with symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Moreover, 70-80% of them are representatives of the fair sex, whose age is barely over 40 years. Doctors identify several reasons for the development of the pathological process. Among them:
In young men, heel spurs can be caused by sports training or wearing uncomfortable shoes.
The formation of osteophyte can be asymptomatic if the cause of its development is permanent. In this case, the pathology is discovered by chance, for example, during an X-ray examination for other indications. However, most often plantar fasciitis is characterized by a pronounced clinical picture.
The first and most important symptom is a feeling of discomfort in the heel when walking. Its appearance is caused by the pressure of the bone growth on the soft tissue. The intensity of the pain syndrome depends to a greater extent on the location of the growth rather than on the size. It will be much stronger if the osteophyte is localized near the nerve endings.
At the first stage, the pain may disappear for an indefinite period of time, but after that it will definitely appear. First, discomfort occurs in the morning, when a person gets out of bed and takes his first steps. Then it increases with increasing loads. Without treatment, pain remains even at rest. It becomes cramping in nature.
The second symptom of a heel spur is a consequence of the first: a person’s gait changes. When discomfort appears in the heel area, the patient tries to involuntarily unload it. Incorrect distribution of the body's center of gravity on the foot also provokes the development of flat feet. The change in gait is especially noticeable when spurs are present on both legs simultaneously.
If a person knows what a heel spur looks like and has all the signs of pathology, he should immediately consult a doctor. Such diseases are treated by a surgeon, orthopedist or rheumatologist.
However, it is impossible to make an accurate diagnosis based only on a physical examination and patient complaints. Pain in the heel area often indicates other disorders. This could be ankylosing spondylitis, osteomyelitis, gout or rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, in addition to studying the medical history, the doctor must prescribe a comprehensive examination. Typically it includes:
The last examination method is considered the most informative. Osteophytes are always clearly visible on x-rays.
How to treat a heel spur? In each specific case, the treatment option is selected by the doctor individually. It is worth noting that in modern practice it is customary to combine them. Traditional methods of eliminating pathology include drug and non-drug therapy. In the latter case, we are talking about laser and ultrasound treatment. In particularly serious situations, surgical intervention is required. Traditional recipes give good results. Let's look at what each treatment option is in more detail.
The main medications for heel spurs are various ointments and gels containing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory components. These include Diclofenac, Butadione, and indomethacin ointment. These products are intended for external use. They have an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. The drugs should be rubbed into the affected area 4 times a day. The duration of such treatment should be at least 2 weeks.
To eliminate the pathology, a special patch based on herbal painkillers is also used. It is pasted onto a dry skin surface and left for 2 days. The course of treatment is also at least 2 weeks.
If there is no positive effect from external remedies, the doctor may recommend a heel spur blockade. During the procedure, injections of glucocorticoid hormones are injected into the affected area. The blockade allows you to get rid of pain quite quickly. In this case, only 2-3 procedures are enough. However, they should only be performed by a surgeon. If the dosage of the drug is incorrectly selected, complications may develop. We are talking about intensifying the inflammatory process and the formation of suppuration. Too frequent treatments can damage or destroy fascial tissue.
Various physical procedures can help reduce pain discomfort and improve blood flow in the foot:
Doctors also recommend orthopedic insoles for heel spurs. They secure the foot well, while the heel itself remains in a slightly elevated position, which reduces the intensity of pain.
This method has been used relatively recently, but has already proven its effectiveness in the treatment of heel spurs. Shock wave therapy helps relieve inflammation in soft tissues. An ultrasound wave of a set frequency acts on the affected area, loosening existing salt deposits. Then they are washed out of the body along with the bloodstream.
Small spurs can be easily eliminated with this treatment method. Therefore, you should not endure the pain and put off visiting the doctor every time. In advanced cases, this treatment method helps stop the progression of the disease.
Shock wave therapy for heel spurs has some contraindications. Its help should not be resorted to for arrhythmia, hypotension, thrombophlebitis, oncopathologies and during pregnancy.
Laser treatment has the same operating principle as UVT: the laser beam eliminates inflammation, relieves pain and swelling. During the procedure, the doctor illuminates the affected area from several projections with a beam whose power is 80 mW. To obtain a positive result, you must complete 2 ten-day courses, but the interval between them should be one week.
First of all, it should be noted that x-ray itself is not a panacea. Treatment of spurs with radiotherapy is permissible only in combination with other methods of therapeutic intervention. This approach allows you to fight the inflammatory process and has a quick pain-relieving effect. However, without the use of appropriate medications, treatment will be incomplete and slow.
The degree of radiation is minimal, so radiotherapy is recommended to be carried out in courses of 5-10 procedures. This method of treatment is not suitable for everyone. It will have to be abandoned during pregnancy, because even small doses of radiation can negatively affect the development of the fetus.
How to treat heel spurs with traditional means was discussed a little higher. Their main goal is to relieve unpleasant symptoms. Surgical intervention is aimed at getting rid of the growth itself, but it does not exclude cases of its reappearance. Therefore, they resort to it only in particularly serious situations.
The extent of the operation depends on the nature of the pathology. During the procedure, the plantar fascia is cut partially or completely, and then the spur itself and damaged tissue are removed. With a complete fasciotomy, the anatomy of the foot is disrupted. As a consequence, changes in gait cause disability.
If you experience severe pain in your foot, you should immediately visit a doctor. What to do if the doctor is unavailable? In this case, unpleasant symptoms can be relieved with the help of improvised means. For example, medical bile, laundry soap and even compresses with salt help well with heel spurs.
One of the simplest home treatments is to apply a magnet to the affected area. You need to keep it in this position for as long as possible. According to patient reviews, after 15 procedures, pain decreases.
Medical bile, or more precisely, compresses based on it, has proven itself well for heel spurs. Before starting the procedure, your feet need to be steamed in a warm bath. You can add chamomile decoction, sea salt or aromatic oils to the water. After about 15 minutes, the feet should be dried. A cotton swab is moistened in medical bile and applied to the site of inflammation. It is better to wrap the leg with a layer of polyethylene and then apply a bandage. It is important to leave this compress overnight.
Iodine has a warming effect and therefore helps improve blood circulation. As a result, inflammation and pain gradually subside. Doctors consider treating heel spurs with iodine a dubious method, because using it alone is very difficult to get rid of osteophytes. This remedy helps soften bone formations, but to enhance the therapeutic effect it is necessary to use variable approaches to eliminating pathology.
Among folk remedies for the treatment of heel spurs, potato compresses occupy the first place. The root vegetable must be peeled and grated. The resulting mass should be applied to the heel, and a bandage on top. You need to keep this compress for no more than 4 hours, and repeat it every day.
To eliminate swelling, use regular laundry soap. It must be grated on a coarse grater and dissolved in water. The liquid should be whipped until foamy, and then lubricated with it on the sore spot. This method of treatment is suitable even for pregnant women.
Propolis is a natural product containing many microelements. To treat a spur, you will need to take a small piece of it and soften it. For this purpose, you can use a water bath or microwave oven. After softening the propolis, you need to make a pancake out of it and apply it to the affected part of the foot, cover the top with gauze. It is recommended to wear this bandage throughout the day.
Treatment of heel spurs with folk remedies is best done under the supervision of a doctor. In addition, traditional medicine should not be neglected. Recipes from traditional healers should be used as a complement to the main therapy.
Methods for preventing plantar fasciitis can be summarized under one abbreviation - healthy lifestyle. There are several ways to prevent this disease:
Pregnant women are at high risk of developing plantar fasciitis. It is caused by physiological changes that occur in the body. We are talking about softening the ligaments during pregnancy. Therefore, pregnant women need to think about preventing pathology in advance. It comes down to daily foot massage and wearing comfortable shoes. If the disease cannot be avoided, the most gentle treatment methods (ointments and plasters) are prescribed. Also, for heel spurs, orthopedic insoles are an indispensable treatment option.
1.Take warm foot baths with a strong saline solution. It is better to use sea salt, but you can also use table salt. For 1 liter of water - 2-3 tablespoons (with top) of salt. The duration of the bath is 30-40 minutes. The water must be hot (so that your feet can endure it). After the procedure, dry your feet, put on warm socks and go to bed.
2.Apply a slice of old lard to the sore spot and secure it by putting on a sock, a plastic bag on top and another sock on top. With this fixation, the fat does not move even when walking.
3. Place slices of raw potatoes on the heel and secure by wearing a tight sock.
4. Steam your foot in a hot bath, then cover the sore spot with clay cakes for 20 minutes. And so on every evening until it gets better.
5. Prepare a tincture of common lilac flowers: pour dry flowers with vodka in a ratio of 1:10, leave for 8-10 days in a well-sealed container, then strain. Drink the resulting tincture 30-50 drops in a small amount of water 2-3 times a day, and also rub the sore leg.
6. Often use a 10% tincture of pine nuts (infuse 20 g of crushed nuts in 200 g of vodka for 10 days), drink 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day before meals.
7.Grate black radish in the skin on a fine grater, apply the resulting pulp to the spur overnight. In the morning, rinse the heel with warm water. Usually three procedures are enough.
8. Apply a plantain leaf (do not wash it) “inside out” to the heel; when it dries, replace it with a new one. The first 3-4 days there may be severe pain, be patient, in two weeks you will forget about your spurs.
9. Fill a three-liter saucepan with small potatoes and potato peelings, cook until tender, transfer to a basin and knead it all with your feet until it cools down. Wipe your feet, apply iodine in the form of a mesh to the soles and put on socks. The course of treatment is 7 procedures.
10. Mix a bottle of triple cologne, two bottles of pharmaceutical valerian, two bottles of iodine, five pods of hot pepper and leave for a day in a dark bottle. Lubricate the sore areas overnight and wrap them up.
11. Mix a tablespoon of honey, a bottle of iodine (50 ml), and a teaspoon of fine table salt. Apply to cotton wool or a bandage, place on the heel, wrap in cellophane and bandage tightly. In the morning, walk around for 15 minutes with the bandage on, then remove it. This amount of ointment is enough for five procedures.
12.Apply a teaspoon of honey to a cabbage leaf and apply it to the heel, overnight, and rinse with warm water in the morning. Repeat the procedure three times.
13. Knotweed (knotweed), put fresh grass in your shoes and walk all day. The next day, throw away the old grass and put in new
14. Steam your feet in a hot bath, then make a compress of medicinal bile at night
Many people suffer from a disease called heel spur. It gives them severe pain, but the mere thought of having to undergo surgery frightens them. Therefore, most of them prefer to first try treating heel spurs at home using various traditional medicines. How effective are they and is it really possible to avoid surgery with them? Before you get answers to these questions, you need to remember what a heel spur is and why does it occur?
A heel spur is a spiky formation that occurs at the junction of bone tissue and the plantar fascia. The main reason for its appearance is the inflammatory process that occurs in the plantar fascia. And it, in turn, arises for the following reasons:
In addition, the formation of heel spurs can be caused by wearing uncomfortable shoes or high-heeled shoes. Therefore, this disease is most often observed in women and athletes.
A heel spur manifests itself as acute pain in the heel, which becomes more pronounced in the morning after waking up and in the late afternoon. In this case, swelling of the lower extremities and a feeling of heaviness in the legs are possible. These symptoms should alert a person and force him to see a doctor. If the diagnosis is confirmed, treatment should begin immediately.
We have already figured out what serious symptoms a heel spur has. And the treatment of this disease is no less serious. Alternative medicine alone cannot eliminate it. If you do not want to undergo surgery to remove a bone growth, then you need to know that treatment of heel spurs necessarily includes the use of anti-inflammatory and painkillers. They are prescribed by a doctor strictly on an individual basis.
In addition to medications, treatment of heel spurs necessarily requires wearing special orthopedic shoes, which are also selected individually for each patient, taking into account the anatomical features of his foot.
Regular physiotherapeutic procedures and physical therapy sessions are also required to maintain foot mobility and joint elasticity. When a heel spur appears, there is a high risk of salt deposits in the body, which can cause the development of gout and other joint diseases. Therefore, many doctors recommend that their patients adhere to a special therapeutic diet, which requires a reduction in salt intake and includes drinking plenty of fluids.
Treatment of heel spurs necessarily requires identifying and eliminating the cause of its appearance. Therefore, in addition to the main treatment, other medications and physiotherapeutic procedures may be prescribed. For example, if a patient is overweight, he is prescribed a strict diet, which helps to quickly eliminate extra pounds. If the cause of the development of spurs is hormonal imbalances in the body, hormonal therapy, etc. is required.
Folk remedies for treating heel spurs at home can also be used. Moreover, most doctors do not even contradict this. But there are some alternative medicines (for example, bile) that cannot be combined with the simultaneous use of medications. Therefore, all remedies used at home must be agreed upon with the attending physician.
If you have primary symptoms of a heel spur, you can treat it as follows:
In addition, do not neglect therapeutic exercises. Your doctor will tell you how to do it. But if you haven’t visited him yet, then you can simply walk around the house, first on your toes, therefore on the outside of the foot, and then on the inside. At the same time, you should not overload your feet, otherwise you will experience severe heel pain. Walk like this for a few minutes, but often.
If your pain has already become chronic, then treating heel spurs at home should be done using warm foot baths, compresses and therapeutic massages.
Traditional methods of treating heel spurs are effective only if they are combined with the simultaneous use of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed by your doctor. Traditional medicine should be used for a long time - 1-2 months. Moreover, you cannot take breaks. Otherwise, the effect of their use will be very low.
So, at home you can make a medicinal compress based on sunflower oil and ammonia. Take a small plastic container and mix 50 ml of ammonia with 1 tbsp. oils Moisten a piece of linen in the resulting mixture, apply it to the sore heel, wrap it with cling film on top and put on a warm sock. This compress should be kept throughout the night.
A product prepared from crushed analgin tablets and a few drops of iodine has a good analgesic effect (you should get a porridge-like consistency). The resulting mass should be applied to the sore spot and covered with polyethylene on top. Keep the compress for 30 minutes, after which the foot must be thoroughly rinsed under running water. Use as needed.
Remedies for treating heel spurs at home based on mumiyo also have a good analgesic effect. For example, you can mix 5 g of mumiyo with 100 g of honey. In order for the ingredients to dissolve well and mix with each other, they must be heated in a water bath. This product should be stored in the refrigerator. It should be rubbed into the sore heel with massage movements every day before bed.
At home, you can apply a fresh leaf of plantain or burdock to the sore spot. They should be applied with the “wrong” side. A warm sock should be worn on top of the foot. To increase the effectiveness of the applied compress, you can pour red pepper into the sock. The leaves will help eliminate the inflammatory process, and the pepper will warm up the sore spot and eliminate pain.
How to get rid of heel spurs quickly? To do this, you can use the following foot bath: take a basin, pour 2-3 liters of water into it and dilute 2 glasses of your own urine in it. In such a bath you need to steam your feet for 20 minutes. After which you need to wipe your feet and put on warm socks. It is best to do this bath before bed.
A bath based on table salt is also considered effective. To prepare it, you need to prepare a concentrated saline solution. It is prepared at the rate of 3 tbsp. salt per 1 liter of water. You should steam your feet in such a bath for half an hour, after which you should wipe your feet without rinsing them with plain water, and put on warm socks.
At home, you can prepare another compress, which will also help eliminate pain and inflammation in the plantar fascia. To prepare it you will need black radish. It must be passed through a meat grinder without peeling and applied to the sore spot. The attached applique should be covered with polyethylene on top, secured with a dry bandage on top and a warm sock should be put on. Keep the compress all night.
Effective treatment of heel spurs at home involves the use of medicinal tinctures, which are also used as compresses.
For example, to cure heel spurs, you can use lilac tincture. It is prepared like this: you need to take dry lilac flowers and pour medical alcohol into them in a ratio of 1:10. The product should be infused in a dark place for two weeks. After this period, it must be strained. Can be used externally and internally.
In the first case, it is necessary to moisten a linen cloth in the tincture, apply it to the sore spot and fix it with polyethylene and a warm sock. In the second case, you need to take 1 tsp of the tincture, after mixing it in a glass of water. Take 2 times a day.
Treatment of heel spurs at home also involves the use of cinquefoil tincture. It is sold ready-made in any pharmacy. You need to take it orally 3 times a day, 1 tablespoon, diluting with water.
There are many more traditional medicine recipes for heel spurs. But remember that their use will only allow you to eliminate the unpleasant symptoms that accompany this disease. They will not be able to rid you of bone formation. To eliminate a heel spur completely it is possible only through surgery.
A heel spur is a bony growth of a beak-shaped or spine-shaped protrusion in the area of the tubercle of the heel bone.
As a rule, heel spurs begin to appear when metabolic processes are disrupted, as well as with flat feet, due to excessive stress on the foot. It is noteworthy that outwardly the spur may not manifest itself in any way, while severe pain may be felt when walking, especially in the first half of the day, when the legs begin to experience stress.
In most cases, heel spurs occur in people with flat feet, since this pathology changes the load on the bones and tendons. Factors that contribute to the development of heel spurs are excess weight, excessive physical activity, joint diseases, spinal diseases, metabolic disorders, circulatory disorders and acute injuries to the heel bone.
Symptoms of heel spurs
The main symptom of a heel spur is sharp, intense pain in the heel area when putting stress on the legs. It feels like stepping on a nail. In the first half of the day the pain is severe, in the middle the pain subsides a little, but may intensify in the evening. As the disease progresses, the pain is constant while walking. Due to severe pain, patients are forced to walk on crutches to relieve the load on their feet.
Diagnosis of the disease comes down to collecting anamnesis and examining the patient. X-ray examination of the heel allows visualization of the heel spur. The doctor must rule out the presence of other diseases that may cause similar symptoms.
A prerequisite for treating heel spurs is restriction of movement or bed rest (at the discretion of the doctor). The patient should acquire special orthopedic shoes and insoles to relieve the load on the painful heel.
Heel spur treatment
The main condition for the treatment of heel spurs is maximum unloading of the foot. For these purposes, special orthopedic insoles with linings of the external and internal longitudinal arches are used. These insoles also have soft padding under the heels.
Conservative treatment of heel spurs includes wearing orthopedic shoes and special insoles, heel pads with indentations and holes, which allows you to remove the maximum load from the painful heel. Wearing such shoes reduces the severity of pain and discomfort when walking. Drug therapy may include the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and painkillers in the form of injections. Warm foot baths, mud therapy, laser therapy, paraffin therapy and ultrasound therapy are also used. If the treatment does not bring the desired result, then X-ray therapy or shock wave therapy is used.
If conservative treatment methods are ineffective, they resort to drug blockades. For these purposes, drugs with a pronounced local anti-inflammatory effect are used, which quickly leads to subsidence of inflammation and reduction of pain.
In severe cases of heel spurs, surgical intervention is resorted to. However, surgical treatment also does not eliminate the cause of the disease, so this treatment option is used as a last resort.
In almost 25% of cases, the disease leads to a decrease in a person’s mobility. With a complex course of the disease or inadequate treatment, a recurrence of the pain syndrome with a heel spur is possible. In rare cases, a heel spur can cause the formation of a neuroma, a benign tumor of nerve fibers or cells.
Prevention of heel spurs
Prevention comes down to fighting excess weight, maintaining an active lifestyle and avoiding excessive stress on the feet. Timely treatment of diseases of the joints and spine will reduce the likelihood of developing heel spurs.
Heel pain , popularly called “heel spurs,” occurs in both young and old people, but is not actually an independent disease. Heel spurs are most often a symptom of some disease, one of its manifestations.
In this article I would like to tell you about the main causes of this unpleasant condition and what should be done about heel pain.
Firstly, you need to know that heel pain is not a consequence of the growth of some kind of spikes or “spurs”. Pain in the heel area is a consequence of inflammation of either the Achilles tendon and its bursa - and then the pain will occur above the heel , along the back of the leg.
Or the pain becomes a consequence of damage to the tendons of the plantar muscles - in this case, pain occurs under the heel .
In this case, part of the affected tendon may become covered with calcium salts, and then it will actually look like a “spur” on an x-ray. However, oddly enough, “spurs” are found on x-rays in 3-5% of healthy people, that is, this sign is not always a reflection of the disease.
Sometimes this is simply an individual characteristic of a person, characteristic specifically of his metabolism. Such a person lives normally, without experiencing discomfort or pain, and the detection of a “spur” on an x-ray may be an accidental diagnostic finding. Conversely, a person with severe heel pain may not have any bone growths and may not have any “spurs” on an x-ray.
So, we found out that the causes of pain are some kind of damage to the tendon, and not the notorious “heel spurs”. The main question arises: What to do?
Of course, under no circumstances should you self-medicate - contact a specialist who will determine the cause of the pain and the diagnosis of the disease. In this case, you need to consult a doctor - an arthrologist, rheumatologist or orthopedist. After a thorough examination, additional examinations may be needed: x-ray diagnostics, general and biochemical blood tests.
Only after this will the necessary treatment be prescribed, taking into account the underlying disease and its causes.
Let us list the main causes of this disease.
Tendon overload or injury
This is the most extensive group and is most often identified under the general name “heel spurs.” This includes trauma to the tendon (for example, a tear or sprain), overload of the tendon due to walking in high-heeled shoes, overload of the tendon during long walking in the presence of severe flat feet, as well as a bruise of the heel bone with subsequent inflammation of the surrounding tissues (for example, due to a jump from height to heels).
Patients in this group most often complain of burning pain under the heel, defined as a “nail” sensation, which intensifies when trying to step on the heel.
Treatment of patients in this group requires complete rest for two to three weeks, while anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac, brufen, indomethacin, flexen, etc.) in tablets or suppositories can be used to relieve pain and inflammation.
Sometimes laser therapy helps a lot, as well as a special “transverse” massage with anti-inflammatory ointments. If these measures do not give the desired effect, you can inject corticosteroid hormones (hydrocortisone, Kenalog) directly into the heel area once or twice - sometimes such a one or two procedure is enough to completely relieve acute pain.
In the most severe cases, when all possible measures have failed, X-ray therapy has to be performed, but, fortunately, such a procedure is required in a maximum of two to three percent of patients.
Infectious lesion (reactive arthritis)
With some types of infections, especially genital infections (for example, gonorrhea, chlamydia, etc.), which sometimes occur hidden, “reactive” inflammation of the heels is possible. And there are some signs that can indicate (or at least “hint”) at the infectious-reactive nature of the damage to the heel tendons. In this case, pain in the heel area often occurs not only when walking. In patients with reactive arthritis, the heels may hurt even at rest, at night. And sometimes it is at night that they hurt the most.
In addition, inflammation of the heels with reactive arthritis is often accompanied by inflammation of a number of joints and eyes, as well as discomfort in the genital area. However, all this - night pain, inflammation of the eyes, joints, discomfort in the genital area - may be a sign of other inflammatory diseases (see below).
In case of reactive arthritis, it is necessary to treat first of all the underlying infection using appropriate antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory drugs and compresses with dimexide can be used to relieve pain.
As already mentioned, inflammation of the heel area is often a consequence of a number of chronic inflammatory diseases of the joints: ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, or gout - a disease associated with metabolic disorders that occurs most often in people who are prone to drinking alcohol or are overly fond of eating meat.
In some cases, inflammation of the heel tendons is the first manifestation of the above diseases, but more often it occurs at their height - after previous inflammation of the joints or spine.
When examining patients with inflammatory diseases, it is almost always possible to detect in blood tests (from a vein) specific “markers of inflammation” in ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis, and a clear increase in uric acid levels in gout.
In all these cases, long-term and persistent “specific” treatment is required, aimed at combating the underlying disease. And to eliminate heel pain itself, you can use anti-inflammatory drugs, laser therapy, administering drugs to the heel area using electrophoresis and, in some cases, single injections of corticosteroid hormones.