Heel spur is a chronic disease that develops as a result of microtrauma to the plantar ligament. This bone growth causes severe pain to a person and can provoke quite serious and dangerous complications.
Many people in the course of their lives are faced with a peculiar foot disease, which is characterized by the formation of a bony protrusion on the heel, which is inflamed and affects the surrounding soft tissues, mucous bursae and periosteum.
The pathological process is most often diagnosed in the fairer sex, who mainly live in urban areas. The following factors can provoke the occurrence and development of heel spurs:
There are many reasons for the occurrence of a heel spur, but regardless of what led to the occurrence of such a pathological process, when the first symptoms appear, you should immediately seek advice from a medical institution, since further development will cause a lot of inconvenience and pain.
Every person, in order not to confuse the symptoms of heel spurs on the feet with other diseases, should know how this process manifests itself. This is necessary in order to prevent the development of pathology, and also not to use completely different drugs that will not have any effect.
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The first sign indicating the formation of a heel spur is the appearance of severe pain in the foot area. This symptom mainly appears after prolonged sitting. Over time, the heel begins to take on a red tint and the leg begins to swell noticeably. If, during the occurrence of this pathological process, a person wears orthopedic shoes, then a sign of the development of the disease is the appearance of discomfort in the foot area.
As a result of the pain that appears, a person experiences a significant change in gait. This is explained by the fact that as a result of discomfort, a person tries to unload the heel area.
In order to prevent the occurrence of unbearable pain and discomfort, as well as not to start the pathological process, it is necessary to consult a doctor at the first sign of a heel spur, who will make the correct diagnosis and select an effective treatment.
When a patient consults a doctor with symptoms that indicate a heel spur on his foot, before prescribing treatment, it is necessary to accurately identify the cause of the discomfort and the presence of possible complications. It is completely impossible to make an accurate diagnosis based on symptoms and external examination. This is explained by the fact that similar signs may also accompany the following pathological processes:
Since the list of pathologies that are accompanied by exactly the same symptoms is quite large, to make an accurate diagnosis the doctor prescribes the following studies to the patient:
Only after the doctor has the results of the above studies in his hands, a specialist, based on them, will be able not only to make an accurate diagnosis, but also to find out the cause and severity of the disease. If the study reveals concomitant diseases, the patient is also recommended to visit other specialists.
Before starting treatment for heel spurs, you need to make sure that the symptoms indicate the development of this pathology and make an accurate diagnosis. To do this, you should undergo a series of additional studies, based on the results of which the doctor will be able to accurately determine the nature of the disease. Only after this the doctor will be able to select the most effective treatment. To make an accurate and correct diagnosis, a person should seek advice from an orthopedist or traumatologist.
During this period of time, the following methods of treating this disease are used:
Regardless of which treatment method is chosen, each patient who is diagnosed with this condition should immediately purchase the right shoes, since without this condition it will be impossible to get rid of heel spurs.
Even if treatment for a heel spur begins when the first symptoms appear and if the most effective medications are used, it is still not possible to quickly get rid of the disease. The minimum period of time spent on treatment is several months. The whole process should last until all symptoms indicating a pathological process disappear.
If the doctor decides on conservative treatment of the spur, then the selection of drugs is carried out individually in each individual case. Drugs that help eliminate this disease include various creams, ointments, gels or infusions. The disadvantage of these remedies is that they are effective only when the disease is at the initial stage of development.
Another way to combat heel spurs is to inject anti-inflammatory and painkillers directly into the heel joint. The effectiveness of this treatment method is much higher than the use of ointments and gels, but it should be borne in mind that this procedure is very painful. Injections should be carried out only by a qualified specialist, since even the slightest mistake in their implementation can provoke serious complications, such as the development of inflammation, the formation of suppuration or the occurrence of osteoporosis.
As for the treatment of heel spurs using shock wave therapy, this procedure not only affects the inflammatory process and relieves it, but also helps to improve metabolic processes in the bone. The essence of this procedure is that calcium deposits are loosened, which are subsequently washed out with the bloodstream. After this procedure, pain is eliminated after the first procedure. As for the effectiveness of this treatment, if a person is diagnosed with a small spur, it can be completely removed.
Note! Treatment of heel spurs with shock wave therapy is performed on an outpatient basis. The duration of treatment is about eight procedures, each of which lasts from ten to thirty minutes.
Treatment of spurs using this method is strictly prohibited for such abnormalities as arrhythmia, nervous disorders, malignant tumors, acute infectious diseases, as well as thrombophlebitis, bleeding disorders and during pregnancy.
We have found out what a heel spur looks like on the heel of the foot and the methods of its treatment, now let’s figure out how to prevent the occurrence of this pathological process.
Since heel spurs very often develop as a result of aging of bones and joints, in order to prevent the development of spurs, you should lead an active lifestyle, give preference to a healthy and balanced diet, and also closely monitor your own weight.
Among other things, there are currently many vitamin complexes on the pharmaceutical market that are aimed at maintaining the health of the musculoskeletal system.
Particular attention should be paid to wearing the right shoes, as well as stress during sports training, as these factors contribute to the occurrence of this pathological process.
Among other things, to prevent heel spurs, you should adhere to the following recommendations:
As for the prognosis for recovery, it is very favorable if you promptly seek qualified medical help. In such a situation, even a slight delay can not only cause significant discomfort, but also provoke the occurrence of concomitant diseases.
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Of course, every disease, no matter what human organ it affects, is unpleasant, and the symptoms of heel spurs that many people experience are no exception.
However, the degree of discomfort can vary: from simply unpleasant sensations to very painful ones. Unfortunately, in the first case, patients often become frivolous and do not consider it necessary to see a doctor, believing that I can handle it myself.
But any disease has the peculiarity of getting worse over time. Therefore, as soon as you notice the first sign of a heel spur, indicating the appearance of a heel spur, take action immediately.
Heel spurs have fairly distinct signs and symptoms, and they are difficult to confuse with any other disease. True, in some cases the disease can be asymptomatic; in this case, a person learns that he has a similar problem only by the results of an X-ray examination (for example, if it is necessary to take an X-ray in case of a dislocation or fracture). But most often, people suffering from heel spurs have to deal with one of the following manifestations of the disease.
The first symptom is a piercing, sharp pain when walking, in particular when putting weight on the heel. When a person himself tries to describe his sensations, it sounds something like “the impression that there is a nail sticking out in my heel.” The explanation for this pain is quite simple: a bone formation, regardless of its size or shape, puts pressure on the soft tissue, causing severe pain.
The intensity of the pain depends to a large extent on where exactly the growth is located - which is why those with large and sharp heel spurs may not feel it at all, while those with small and flat spurs complain of unbearable pain. Also, pain sensations will depend on how close the nerve endings are to the spur.
What happens next? The growth injures the tissues; over time, they scar, accumulating insoluble calcium compounds. Such deposits provoke irritation of all nearby tissues, mucous membranes of joints, and bone elements. It is natural that the result of all this is inflammation, which in itself increases the pain, and a neglected heel spur causes its own inconvenience. The result is that painful attacks occur more often and last longer; pain can occur even in the absence of obvious stress.
If you have a heel spur, then the symptoms will be as follows: in the morning the first steps will be given with great difficulty, with constant walking the pain subsides a little, and in the evening it intensifies again due to accumulated fatigue.
The second symptom that should alert, perhaps not so much the patient himself, but his immediate environment (since it is more visible from the outside) is changes in gait. Feeling slight discomfort, a person tries to relieve the heel of the load, involuntarily shifting the center of gravity. A long period of such walking leads to the development of transverse flat feet. If heel spurs are present on both feet, it becomes very difficult for a person to move around.
Fortunately, the treatment of heel spurs does not present any difficulties and most often it is conservative. It is advisable to avoid self-medication or the use of folk remedies, since the choice of direction of therapy depends entirely on what reason triggered the development of the disease. These are the most common methods of treating heel spurs.
Official science categorically rejects common folk methods of treating heel spurs. It is believed that they can be either downright useless or even dangerous, such as the advice to break a heel spur on a stone or other hard object. However, the use of various compresses has made life much easier for many patients; you can read about such methods in the article treating heel spurs at home here.
Prevention of heel spurs consists of eliminating the causes that provoked them: control over your own body weight, in the case of flat feet - selection or tailor-made special shoes, a competent approach to all kinds of physical activity. You should also pay special attention to your doctor's recommendations if you have had a leg injury and avoid putting any weight on your legs for a certain period of time.
Osteophyte is an unpleasant and painful manifestation of the growth of bone tissue in the form of a spike, caused by the pulling action of a tendon or ligament. For a disease such as a heel spur, treatment with medications is quite possible if it is not neglected. We’ll talk about the causes and remedies in today’s article.
When a heel spur is diagnosed, treatment with medication assumes that the disease has already been detected, for example through an ultrasound or x-ray. The signs of a heel spur are obvious, and, despite the fact that the disease develops gradually, visits to the doctor actually occur at the stage when the growths cause noticeable discomfort when walking. According to statistics of cases of fasciitis (inflammation of muscle tissue due to osteophyte), women are more often affected, because high-heeled shoes, when the foot abruptly moves from a position of loading on one ligament to a resting position and vice versa, are characteristic of the female gender. Loads on the legs when walking or an active lifestyle are not at all an indication that osteophyte is excluded. The main condition for its prevention is proper nutrition, even alternation of loads on the leg with rest, and timely diagnosis by a specialist.
Microscopic tears and cracks that form due to systematic stress on the foot due to uncomfortable shoes, unusual heel height (or lack thereof after the foot has been constantly on a heel) can be treated. How to treat heel spurs with medication? Provide rest to the foot, lubricate it with any soothing and anti-inflammatory agent, numb the pain and try to give the foot time to relieve it and not put any strain on it. Completely different measures should be taken if pain in the heel begins to torment due to other reasons - infections, injuries, obesity, etc. In this case, the main cause of the problem should be identified and eliminated first, otherwise the use of products that act directly on the tissue ( bone, muscle, tendon), will only help for a short time. Their action is based on pain relief and inflammation. It would be even worse to insist on conservative methods without confirming the genesis of the disease. Therefore, before treating a heel spur with medications, you should make sure that your initiative will not harm: get tested, have an X-ray or ultrasound of the foot.
It is not difficult to identify the disease if it is already progressing. First signs:
Drug treatment of heel spurs at home is possible, but self-medication without diagnosis should not be done, if only because different stages of the disease have different purposes, and what is an effective remedy at one of them can aggravate the course of the disease at another.
One of the main causes of spurs is impaired metabolism, which is usually associated with the patient’s excess weight. Improper processes of carbohydrate metabolism in the body lead to the formation of calcium deposits and inflammation of the tissues of the heel tubercle. Experiencing maximum load while walking, running, jumping, the internal tissues of the foot sometimes receive microtraumas, which, as a result of constant load, do not heal, but are aggravated by new loads. Therefore, the disease often accompanies athletes and athletics enthusiasts. Usually, treatment of heel spurs with medications is possible even before diagnosis, based on primary symptoms: sharp pain inside the foot, inability to step on the heel due to the feeling of a “driven nail.” In such cases, you should not give your feet baths or warm them with compresses: this will help in the later stages of the disease, but in the initial stages it can cause swelling and increased pain. That is why, if a diagnosis of heel spur is suspected, medication treatment should be prescribed by a specialist, and self-medication is not recommended.
Other causes of the disease include flat feet, orthopedic diseases and spinal curvatures (due to unevenly distributed weight on both feet), chronic latent infections (chlamydia, which causes Reiter's syndrome), rheumatic diseases (arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout). To confirm the diagnosis of heel spur (medication treatment can be prescribed only after diagnosis), you need to undergo some tests. They make it possible to determine that the disease is truly osteopathic in nature, and not another (articular, vertebral) with similar symptoms. With some of them, the load on the feet may not even be that significant, so treating heel spurs with medications will no longer give a stable effect. In this case, you need to thoroughly cure the original source of the problem.
Reviews of drug treatment for patients are often positive, because carefully followed instructions from an orthopedist or surgeon at the initial stage of the disease can relieve the painful syndrome and get rid of symptoms. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used in the form of capsules, tablets, creams and ointments, for applications and compresses, hormonal drugs in the form of gel, cream or injections. When combined with massages, which also need to be performed correctly, treatment with such means can relieve all pain in a two-week course of use. Ointments and creams of steroidal or non-steroidal type are effective. Treatment with medications has been shown and has proven effective for the disease “heel spur”: cinquefoil, bee venom, on the basis of which creams are created to relieve symptoms. Ointments should be applied not periodically for the most intense pain, but three or four times a day, after warming up the sore heel. Their action manifests itself as softening the skin, relieving inflammation, pain relief, and improving blood supply to the painful area.
Marsh cinquefoil has long been widely used both internally and externally, and promotes healing and relief of inflammation of various types. It is taken as alcoholic tinctures, decoctions and herbal infusions, and used topically externally. Its leaves contain many valuable substances that have a pronounced anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, improve metabolism when taken orally, and help strengthen the body's defenses and immunity. In addition, cinquefoil has no contraindications. Unless pregnant and nursing mothers should resort to cinquefoil.
For the treatment of heel spurs, cinquefoil is recognized as one of the best natural remedies. An alcohol tincture is made from this natural preparation. The course of treatment is three weeks for oral administration. Based on cinquefoil tincture, night compresses are also made on the sore heel using foil or adhesive. An ointment is made from badger, goose fat or glycerin, mumiyo tablets and a dessert spoon of this tincture, which is applied to preheated skin and remains as a compress all night.
They help alleviate the symptoms of the disease and means such as:
Other methods of conservative treatment include the use of orthopedic insoles, silicone heel pads with a recess or hole at the location of the growth. This method can be combined with a more traditional one; the use of a cream or ointment in combination with careful care of the heel will make healing faster and more effective.
In addition, such types of assistance as plasters, warm foot baths, wraps, paraffin heating (paraffin therapy), metal therapy using foil, mud therapy, laser therapy and drug blockades are also used. Blockades are a tool that should never be used independently. Injections into the heel of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and painkillers can only be entrusted to a specialist, otherwise it can only worsen.
Heel pain can be caused by various reasons. Most often they are the result of bone growth, which has the shape of a wedge or spike. People call it a “heel spur.” It can appear both in older people and in very young people. This is not a primary disease. It develops against the backdrop of an already existing problem.
The name of the disease does not mean that any spikes grow in the person’s heel, but that the tendons are damaged, which deforms the normal position of the bone. The result is pain when walking. If the Achilles tendon and its bursa are affected, then the person feels pain above the heel, where the back surface of the leg is located. If the tendons from the plantar muscles are affected or inflamed, then the person will feel pain under the heel on the side of the sole.
A heel spur can be identified using an x-ray. But, unfortunately, only 3-5% of cases of this disease are detected so far. The doctor sees that the tendon is affected. It is usually overgrown with calcium on top. Therefore, the change looks like a “spur” in appearance.
Severe pain in the heel area, which intensifies with weight bearing on the leg. At the beginning of the disease, pain occurs periodically. As the disease progresses, pain torments the person all day.
A slight increase in the heel area is also a symptom that a person has developed a heel spur.
If, however, heel spurs cannot be avoided, then you need to wear orthopedic insoles for heel spurs. They help relieve stress from the foot. You can instead insert a heel pad for heel spurs. But it is much better to use special insoles for heel spurs. They are an excellent prevention of flat feet, which leads to the development of this disease.
Shock wave therapy for heel spurs was developed by Swiss doctors more than ten years ago. This is the most effective treatment for heel spurs today. The effectiveness of this method of getting rid of heel spurs is 85%. It is practically safe, because... has a minimum of side effects.
The essence of the treatment is the penetration of shock waves through soft tissue. It does not affect healthy cells, because they are protected by an elastic membrane. The wave acts on inflamed cells, loosening scar tissue and removing excess salts that have been deposited in tendons, muscles and ligaments. Using a wave shock, the device returns blood flow in the foot to normal functioning. Calcium salts and areas of fibrosis gradually dissolve.
Benefits of shock wave therapy for heel spurs:
Treatment of heel spurs with medication is aimed at reducing pain and inflammation in the foot. For this, the patient is prescribed medications such as diclofenac, brufen, indomethacin, flexen, etc. They can be produced both in tablets and in suppositories. If the pills do not help, the person is given an injection of corticosteroid hormones directly into the heel once or twice. In addition, treatment begins for the disease that led to the development of heel spurs. If it is an infection, you will need to take a course of antibiotics.
Laser treatment for heel spurs targets the soft tissue. This method does not save you from the spur itself. It improves blood circulation in the diseased area. And this eliminates the inflammatory process and reduces pain.
Removing a heel spur is one of the drastic ways to get rid of the problem. Doctors knock down the heel spur with a chisel and subsequently remove the tissue that has changed around it.
Massage for heel spurs. It helps improve blood circulation in the foot. This will relieve the pain. The leg will stop going numb.
Heel spur – treatment with iodine. You can use this medicine to make a heel bath. You need to soak the heel spur in iodine for ten minutes. It helps get rid of pain. The second recipe suggests mixing 50 ml. iodine with six aspirin tablets. Before this, the tablets must be crushed. The resulting mass should be applied to the heels in the morning and evening before bed. Do this daily for one month. Traditional treatment for heel spurs will be more effective if you drink flint water for 30 days.
Potatoes for heel spurs. You need to boil six potato tubers in their skins. Crush them and prepare puree, but adding kerosene rather than milk. Soak your feet in the hot puree for twenty minutes. Afterwards, wipe your heels with a rag and put on warm socks. A course of traditional treatment for heel spurs consists of 4-12 sessions. You can use raw grated potatoes to make a compress on your heel. There is no need to peel the potatoes. Place the resulting mass on the heel and wrap it with a bandage.
Black radish with heel spur. It makes a compress. First you need to grate the radish on a fine grater without peeling the vegetable. Then put the paste on the sore heel and tie it with a bandage. Apply the compress in the evening and leave it overnight.
Plantain leaves. You need fresh leaves of this medicinal plant. They cannot be washed. In this case, some of the beneficial properties of the plant for treating spurs are lost. We tie the leaves to the heel and walk with it until they dry. Then you need to add fresh herbal raw materials. Apply the leaves to the heel spur for 14 days. Plantain has the property of drawing out salt, thereby relieving pain during illness.
Cabbage+honey You need to take a fresh cabbage leaf and coat it well with honey. Then apply the sheet to the heel and bandage the leg. This should be done at night. In the morning, the compress must be removed and the heel rinsed with warm water. The course of treatment is three days. Compresses as folk remedies for heel spurs perfectly relieve pain and remove excess salts from this area of the foot.
Medical bile for heel spurs. You need to mix 40 grams of bile with 20 grams of vodka and 10 milliliters of shampoo. It is good to steam your feet in a hot bath. Apply a compress from the resulting mixture to the sore spot and put on socks. Sit like this for one hour. Two such procedures should be performed per day. The compress reduces the intensity of heel pain almost immediately.
Nettle. You need to collect fresh nettles every day. In the evening you should steam your feet well. Then trample on the nettles for half an hour. Heel spur disease will lose its position after 5 courses of such treatment.
Alcohol + salt + vinegar essence. First you should mix 100 grams of salt, 100 ml. alcohol and 10 ml. vinegar essence. Pour water on top so that the volume of the medicine becomes 3 liters. Heat the mixture until you can dip your feet into it. Soak your feet until the water has cooled completely. Wipe your feet and put on socks. Pour the medicine into a jar and put it in the refrigerator. The next day, heat it up, add a tablespoon of vinegar essence and alcohol. Repeat the foot bath. This is a very effective remedy. The procedure must be repeated for fourteen days without missing a single session.
After we studied all the ways to combat this disease, we learned how to get rid of heel spurs in the shortest possible time.
Heel spur: treatment with magnesium. First you need to dilute 6 sachets of pharmaceutical magnesia in one liter of water. Then heat the solution to 60 degrees. Add the resulting mixture to the foot bath. Steam your heels for 10 minutes. Afterwards, apply a compress of liquid valerian to them and put on socks. Do all this before bed. A course of treatment for heel spurs with magnesium should consist of ten procedures.
The following recipe will tell you how to cure a heel spur in two weeks. You need to take a pinch of ground red pepper and pour it into your socks. Walk like this all day. After the first day of treatment, walking will become much easier, the pain will be less intense. And in two weeks she will retreat forever.
The best way to normalize metabolism is tincture of pine nuts. You only need to crush 20 grams of nuts and pour 200 ml. vodka. Place the container in a dark, dry place for ten days. After the medicine has infused, it can be taken.
Drink two teaspoons of the medicine immediately before meals three times a day.
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A heel spur, also known as plantar fasciitis, is a growth on the heel bone that appears as a result of a congenital disorder in the development of bone tissue in the body. The base of such a growth is wide, and the apex is narrow.
A heel spur can occur against the background of developing flat feet, trauma or prolonged stress on the lower extremities, excess weight, gout, diseases of the leg joints of a dystrophic nature (knee arthrosis, osteoarthritis of the hip joint, and others), metabolic disorders, diabetes mellitus, ankylosing spondylitis, ankylosing spondylitis
In the first stages of its development, a heel spur does not give any manifestations or symptoms. As the heel curtain develops, the patient begins to experience pain in the heel during walking or physical activity. The pain becomes more intense over time. Even later, “starting pains” begin to bother you, when the first step after a state of rest is almost impossible to take due to the feeling of driving a nail into the heel bone.
Pain is also felt when feeling the foot, especially at the site of the lesion.
Diagnosis of a heel spur is based on the following principle: first, a detailed survey of the patient is carried out, then the doctor examines the foot and palpates it. After a survey and examination, an x-ray examination is prescribed. In the pictures you can always visualize the heel spur, its contour outline, location and size.
In rare cases, when an X-ray does not show the presence of a heel spur, and the patient complains of characteristic pain, they resort to a diagnostic method such as computed tomography.
All preventive methods to prevent the appearance of heel spurs are aimed at preventing premature aging of the bone and joint apparatus of the body.
The complex of such events includes:
As a secondary prevention, it is important to undergo physical therapy courses.
Treatment of heel spurs is conservative. The entire range of therapeutic measures directly depends on the reasons that prompted the development of this disease. Traditional treatment options for heel spurs are:
Heel spurs should be treated by a specialist doctor, an orthopedist or a surgeon.