Why does heel spur and how to get rid of pain?

If the plantar fascia is stretched excessively, an outgrowth or osteophyte, called a spur, is formed on the inside of the calcaneus. When walking, this osteophyte can press on nearby nerves, and then a symptom arises - pain with a calcaneal spur.

Causes of the pain with calcaneal spur

Why does the calcaneal spur?

By the way, the marginal osteophyte of the calcaneus can be completely painless: 15 out of 100 people do not even know about the presence of a calcaneal spur, and only one in twenty people has pain associated with the spur.

Explaining the pathogenesis of the formation of spine-like outgrowth, orthopedists pay attention to anatomical features on the calcaneus. The fact is that on its part, which faces towards the metatarsus of the foot, there is a place (enthesis), where a fascia is fastened with the help of ligaments of tendon fibers.

The bone is covered with a two-layer fibrous tissue - the periosteum (periosteum), the lower layer of which is called cambial. It contains cells that form bone tissue - osteoblasts. Due to the fact that the muscles of the sole of the foot and the fascia covering them experience great mechanical stress, while maintaining the weight of the body, the attachment of the fascia of the tendon is strained. The greater the load on the foot, the stronger this tension, and as a result the periosteum (which holds the tendons) is injured, separating from the bone, and also begins to stretch. This leads to the activation of the osteoblasts of the cambial layer and their transformation into osteocytes - that is, the formation of an osteophyte.

The risk factors for the appearance of such bony growths are given in the article -  The causes of the calcaneal spur

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Symptoms

The nature of pain with calcaneal spur

Most of those with a plantar osteophyte know how the heel spur is hurt: in the morning, when getting up from bed, or after a long rest, sitting, there is a sharp sharp pain in the heel that does not give way, which is described as piercing - as if a nail is hammered into the heel area. The pain can be in the entire plantar part of the foot, and it increases with physical exertion.

In fact, it does not hurt the spur - as it is bone tissue, but the structures innervated by the branches of the medial and lateral plantar nerves: the site of the periosteum from the calcaneus or the inflamed part of the fascia, injured by an extremely strong tension.

How long does the calcaneal spur? Despite the appearance of acute pain, the pathology is chronic and can last for years.

But why the heel spur to the rain hurts - a question that should be asked rheumatologist. Therefore, osteophytes tend to form when the joints are affected by arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Diagnostics of the pain with calcaneal spur

Diagnostics

And how the diagnosis of this pathology is carried out, is detailed in the publication -  Heel Spurs

Differential diagnostics plays a special role, as clinical statistics show that in half of cases, pain in the foot or thalalgia -  pain in the heel  arise for other reasons, for example, because of flat feet, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation of the periosteum, deformation of the foot bones or neurinoma. In elderly people, atrophy of the calcaneus muscular pad should be considered.

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Treatment of the pain with calcaneal spur

How and with what to remove or take off a pain at a heel spur?

What to do with pain with a calcaneal spur? Do not try to get rid of her by putting cabbage leaves, bacon or garlic, and go to an appointment with an orthopedist to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment.

The main medicines recommended in such cases by doctors refer to the pharmacological group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (including Ibuprofen, etc.), see in detail -  Medicinal treatment of the calcaneal spur, and -  Ointment from the heel spur.

At the same time can reduce the pain of injections of corticosteroids or compresses with medical bile, bischofite and  dimexide.

If severe pains become intolerable, and they can not be removed by either tableted NSAIDs or ointments, resort to a novocaine  blockade with a calcaneal spur

Applied non-drug treatment methods, extracorporeal  shock wave therapy ; perform  laser treatment, use  ultrasound.

Physiotherapeutic treatment includes exercise therapy and therapeutic massage; as it is correctly done, is described in the article -  Foot massage with heel spur. Also to ease the pain syndrome, sessions of electrophoresis, darsonval, magnetotherapy, peloidotherapy (sulfide muds) are prescribed.

How popular medication is administered, and what remedies are advised to use, in details read in the publication -  Treating the calcaneal spur by alternative means

The most extreme and not always effective measure is surgical treatment -  removal of plantar osteophytes. Such operations are performed quite rarely due to incomplete relief of pain and a high risk of nerve damage. 

Prevention

Prevention

To reduce the intensity of pain, you need to get rid of excess weight and wear comfortable shoes, into which under the heel lay gaskets with a hole in the middle. Orthopedists strongly recommend wearing special  insoles with a calcaneal spur

On how to prevent heel pain with a calcaneal spur, read in the publication -  Pain in the heel when walking.

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Forecast

Forecast

Currently, there is an opportunity to cure the calcaneus osteophyte, so the prognosis for the majority of patients is favorable. But in the absence of proper treatment of pain with a calcaneal spur, the quality of life is reduced and can significantly limit physical activity and the ability to move independently. That is, they can make a person disabled.

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