The formation of a heel spur on the foot is a common disease that gives the patient severe pain and trouble when walking. The recommendations of doctors agree on a surgical solution to the problem, but wearing a heel with a heel spur will improve well-being and alleviate pain.
Heel spur: what is it and how to treat it?
This unpleasant disease in medicine is called plantar fasciitis, its reason is the proliferation of the calcaneus from the side of the sole near the tubercle or in the area of the beginning of the Achilles tendon. A spur is a wedge-shaped spike on the heel that becomes inflamed and causes unpleasant pain when walking.
Fascitis is a common pathology of the musculoskeletal system, which affects 10% of the population, most often women after 40 years. However, with certain negative factors, such a disease is possible at any age. Due to constant pain while walking, the quality of life of a sick person decreases, which can even lead to his disability.
For proper diagnosis in the presence of complaints and after examination, the doctor directs the patient to an X-ray to see the size of the calcaneal spine formed and to clarify its location. After the examination, he gives recommendations for the relief of pain and the necessary treatment methods. Most often, to reduce pain, wearing silicone heel shoes in shoes is recommended, which will reduce the load on the spike.
What spur comes from?
Pain in fasciitis occurs due to microcracks of the plantar fascia - an elastic tissue that connects the phalanges of the toes and the calcaneus. Due to the heavy loads on the lower extremities, the fascia stretches, breaks occur, and during rest at night they grow together. With frequent recurrence of microfractures, non-infectious inflammation begins, accompanied by severe pain.
The reasons for the appearance of the heel spur:
- heel or foot injuries: sprains, bruises, fractures, etc .;
- diseases that cause circulatory and metabolic processes in the body;
- diabetes mellitus and a large weight of the patient;
- heavy loads during sports, which cause sprain and other injuries;
- uncomfortable shoes without insoles with high heels, from which there is a strong tension of the tendons and their injury;
- diseases of the spine or joints: arthritis, osteoarthrosis, gout, etc .;
- connective tissue diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis;
- age-related changes in which there is a thinning of the fat layer in the heel area.
Symptoms of the heel spur
Fasciitis is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms, which are impossible to notice:
- The first sign is periodically occurring pain during movement, which gradually intensifies, giving the patient suffering with any support on the heel. They are usually associated with the pressure of the spike on the soft tissues and depend on the proximity of the spur to the nerve endings.
- Attacks of severe pain when resting on the leg after a night's sleep, which decrease during the day, but may increase again in the evening. This is due to the fact that during a long rest, microfractures on the fascia have time to heal, and when standing on the foot, repeated trauma occurs.
- Over time, scar tissue forms around the spur in the tissue, as well as the accumulation of calcium compounds, and pain intensifies even in a calm state. This means that calcification of spurs provokes the growth of osteophytes.
- The patient's gait changes due to the desire to step less on the sore foot and heel, as a result of which the occurrence of transverse flatfoot is possible.
- With calcaneal spur, there are no external changes in the foot; occasionally, slight swelling and the appearance of corns can be observed.
Having felt such unpleasant symptoms, any patient will understand that this is a heel spur, and how to treat him, a specialist will advise after an accurate diagnosis of the disease.
Heel Spur Treatment Methods
Treatment of fasciitis can be carried out both medical and folk methods. The first step to alleviating pain will be to reduce the load on the foot and heel during walking, which can be done in several ways:
- reduce daily walking time during the day, stand less and not rely on a sick limb;
- orthopedic insoles or heels are recommended: silicone, gel, etc .;
- the use of orthoses for night rest, which hold the foot perpendicular to the foot.
Medical treatments:
- medicinal injections into the spur area;
- ultrasound and laser treatment;
- the use of shock wave therapy;
- surgical operation to remove thorns and growths;
- cryodestruction.
Orthopedic Insoles
Liners for everyday shoes are one of the ways to help reduce pain and relieve inflammation in the heel spur. These include special insoles and semi-insoles, performing a fixing role to maintain a physiologically comfortable position of the foot when walking.
Such devices are made of natural and synthetic materials: leather, silicone, gel, felt, etc. They are sold in shoe and specialty stores, pharmacies, or through Internet sites. The size of the orthopedic insole is selected along the length of the foot and its anatomical structure, also depends on body weight. The most comfortable are liners made in the workshop by individual standards.
The insole should fully correspond to the shape of the foot, an important part of it is the arch support, which supports the calcaneus in an elevated position. The soft insert in the heel area is made of shock-absorbing material, it helps to reduce pressure on the tissues and pain when walking. The design of the insoles and heel pads with the heel spur helps maintain the arch of the foot, promoting the healing of plantar aponeurosis.
Heel cups and their types
A variety of orthopedic insoles are the heel pads, they are smaller in size and are designed only for a small area of the foot. The material for their manufacture is very diverse: cork wood, natural and synthetic leather, silicone, gel, media.
Depending on the purpose of use, the heel pads with the heel spur are divided into the following types:
- Shock absorbing - has the shape of a rounded wedge, a dense skeleton and is used in the complex treatment of certain diseases: arthrosis, calcaneus and spur injuries. Inside there is a hard liner that, while walking, massages soft tissues and helps soften the inflamed bone growth on the heel.
- Gel heel pad - is distinguished by the presence of sides and is made of special silicone, inside there is a spring insert. Such soft material ideally retains its shape; in the treatment of fasciitis, it allows you to give the correct position to the foot, reduces the load on the joints, and massage the affected area to improve blood circulation. Their advantage is that women's gel heels with a heel spur can also be worn in high-heeled shoes.
Tips for choosing a heel pad
The use of heel pads allows patients with a spur on the foot to return to normal life, gain the ability to walk and move freely and without pain, and also helps relieve inflammation and take the first step to recovery.
Which heel is best for heel spur, it is important to improve the condition of the disease. The best option for doctors is the manufacture of such orthopedic corrective devices by individual standards and ordering in a special workshop.
When choosing an insole or heel (silicone or other material) in a pharmacy, it is recommended to pay attention to the following aspects:
- fitting is required before purchasing the product;
- depreciation when walking with such a device should be optimal;
- when selecting, it is necessary to measure the liner with that shoe (better than everyday) on which it will be placed;
- pay attention to the convenience and physiological parameters of this product: what weight it is designed for, the level of pathology, etc.
Alternative methods of treatment
There are many recipes for compresses and mixtures to help reduce pain and inflammation. Alternative treatment of heel spurs at home offers the following methods:
- Applying iodine mesh to the spur area helps in the early stages of the disease. It is also recommended to make a mixture of 50 g of iodine, 1 tsp . honey and salt, mix all the components and apply through 4 layers of gauze overnight in the form of a compress, which is wound with a bandage. The mass can be stored in the refrigerator. Before the procedure, it is better to soften the foot in water with a temperature of 45-55º. In the morning you need to walk for 15-20 minutes, without removing the bandage, stretch your legs, then wash your foot with warm water. The course is 5 days.
- Garlic compress is done weekly. For it, several cloves of garlic are taken, rubbed until gruel and applied to the pain zone with a circumference of up to 3 cm, polyethylene is placed on top, then the foot must be fixed with a bandage perpendicular to the foot, the exposure time is from 4 to 6 hours, preferably at night, after removing the compress, wash leg with clean, warm water. During the action with unpleasant sensations (burning or baking), it is better to remove the compress to avoid burns.
- Lotions with dimexide, in which the medicine must be diluted in water in a ratio of 1: 5, wet with a solution of a napkin, put on the heel, waxed paper on top, put on a woolen sock. The duration of the compress is 30 minutes daily for 10-14 days, then after a break for a week the course can be repeated.
- The compress with medical bile is put on a gauze dressing for a day, the course is up to 2 months. When changing dressings, the foot must be washed and dried well so that there is no diaper rash.
- A folk recipe for an ointment for the treatment of spurs, consisting of 1 egg (the shell is dissolved in vinegar or essence for 3 days), 200 g of melted butter. The resulting product is applied in the form of a compress to a sore spot for the whole night. As a rule, positive results will be noticeable in a few days.
Medicinal treatments
When conservative and popular methods of treatment do not help, then one of the effective ways to help relieve pain quickly enough is to block spurs in the heel area. This procedure is performed by an orthopedic surgeon, making an injection into the area of inflamed fascia.
Preparations for blocking the calcaneal spur (Hydrocortisone, Diprospan, Kenalog, Floosteron) help relieve inflammation in the connective tissues and almost completely relieve pain. Often, novocaine injections are also added, which eliminate pain during the procedure.
The disadvantages of the procedure:
- the pain may return, and another 2-3 injections will be required;
- complications are possible due to errors: infection and inflammation, osteoporosis, tissue necrosis, trauma and destruction of the plantar fascia.
Other treatments
In addition to medicinal methods and the use of insoles or heel, the following procedures are often prescribed for a heel spur:
- foot and heel massage, which can be done either by a specialist or by yourself at home;
- hot baths with paraffin, mud, radon, etc .;
- physiotherapy exercises for stretching the ligamentous apparatus and strengthening the fascia (using balls or cylindrical objects);
- applying special patches with a course of 10-12 procedures that are sold in a pharmacy, they include antiseptic and painkillers, herbal extracts that help relieve inflammation: aconite root, gentian, angelica or Chinese angelica, Indian camphor, etc .;
- treatment of the painful area with the Vitafon apparatus, etc.
Patient Reviews
To facilitate the healing process and relieve discomfort during calcaneal spur can only be achieved through an integrated approach to solving the problem. Doctors recommend simultaneous treatment with home methods, medical and physiotherapeutic. It is very important during the treatment period to reduce the load on the sore feet, which helps to make the use of heel pads for heel spur. Testimonials of patients who coped with such a painful problem indicate relief of symptoms and an improvement in the quality of life after using home procedures and devices to relieve the load on the heels.