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The Kitchen Table

Heel spur

10 years ago

My guy has a heel spur. Quite painful. Would like to hear what others have done for it? His doc gave him some exercises and alleve for pain. Is surgery the best solution?

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Comments (11)

Terri_PacNW
10 years ago
Well, Are they even suggesting surgery yet? Usually that is after all the other treatment is exhausted.
I would make sure it's not only a pain pill, but a good anti inflamatory.
Shelgal
10 years ago
I had heel spurs twice. Each time the podiatrist gave me a shot in the heel and the spur was gone the next day. No surgery.
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I feel just awful that I recommended a shoe to Red that didn't work for her, and I feel for her frustration and the waste of money. And part of the reason I feel terrible is because the shoe I advocated so strongly is not what Orthaheel is currently selling as the Wave flip-flop. Last month, I ordered a Wave pair and a Tide and found I can't wear either one because OrthaheelUSA has redesigned the product! I measured them for comparison against my older ones. The strap is tighter, the footbed is a little softer and more padded, and the angles and hollows of the footbed are shallower (it's been made just a little flatter). But the worst part is--and I can't understand why they would do such a thing--the thong has been positioned one-quarter inch farther back from the front of the shoe, which means that the thong digs painfully between the toes and prevents the arch and heel from settling fully into the places designed to receive them. A noticeably larger amount of empty sole now extends beyond my toes (enough to be a tripping hazard). The new flip-flops were so uncomfortable that I couldn't keep them on for even half a minute. For any other product, I would have shrugged philosophically and sent them back, but I was so concerned (actually, DH would probably describe it as enraged and distraught) about this threat to long-term physical health and well-being that I fired off emails to the place from which I ordered them, to OrthaheelUSA, and to the office of the Australian doctor who developed them. The redesigned shoes are easily differentiated from the original ones by the Orthaheel logo on the bottom of the shoe---the old good one has ORTHAHEEL in all caps with a squiggly line under the first 4 letters (ORTH), whereas the new logo has larger letters all in lower case with the squiggle under the last 4 letters (heel). If I wear the good flip-flops every day (first thing in the morning and last thing at night), the old Orthaheel design stabilizes my plantar fascitis and my feet NEVER hurt, even if I walk around barefoot for part of the day. I dread the day my old ones wear out and I return to the chronic pain and inflammation of heel spurs that I lived with before I bought my first pair of Orthaheel flip-flops. Anyway, the vendor followed up on my anguished complaint, contacted the manufacturer, and responded as follows: "We learn something new every day! . . . There is a difference between the new foot bed and the old. Apparently, Orthaheel has moved to a new manufacturer (for better quality, they say). The variance on the foot bed is meant to be so slight that it should not be noticeable. Obviously it is for you." Now I will try to locate a bunch of the old version of the flip-flops and stockpile enough of them to last 15 or 20 years. It illustrates something I must have forgotten: Just because you've found a perfect product, don't assume it will always be obtainable. And boy am I kicking myself.
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Ezri is right about heel spurs being a by-product of plantar fasciitis, for the most part, and they usually don't have to be removed. I've had plantar fasciitis for 25 years now, though it's generally well-controlled. This is what I've learned: 1. Never, ever walk barefoot. Even when you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, wear a pair of shoes with arch support. (Orthaheel.com has some good flip flops that I use as slippers.) 2. Stretch! Ezri is right - stretch before you get out of bed this morning, and stretch several times during the day. One good stretch is to stand on the edge of a step with the ball of your foot and let your heels drop down off the step. 3. Ice. Keep a water bottle in the freezer, and when your foot is hurting, roll your foot over the frozen bottle. 4. Use arch supports in your shoes. I like the green ones by Spenco.
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See, this is why I suggested getting good recommendations from a really good, female dr. My case was quite severe, but she was able to recommend FASHIONABLE shoes for me that took care of the problem--WITHOUT needing inserts, orthotics, etc. Sounds like a lot of people on this thread are spending a lot of 'stuff' to put in their shoes. The right dr. will make all the difference in the world, and will probably be less expensive in the long run than trying to handle this yourself, with OTC remedies (some of the gizmos that are being sold for PF are QUITE expensive), and certainly less expensive than going to the wrong dr.--some of them are big on selling/recommending expensive stuff, too. It is a painful condition, that you want to treat as quickly as possible, and that you want to prevent getting a good hold on you again, certainly. I wish everyone on this thread who suffers from PF finds the relief I have. Good luck.
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I'm still in the midst of my second bout of plantar fasciitis which has been with me more than a year. I just don't want a cortisone shot (I'm a big baby,) so I finally found some shoes that have been by far, the biggest help. Clarks, New Balance, Berkinstock arch supports, none of these did the job. These are Z-Coil and I bought them because I spoke to a friend of a friend when I saw them on his feet. He had such luck with them when he was faced with surgery that I gave them a try. The sandals were fantastic and the tennis shoes have been good, though in the last couple of weeks my heels are hurting a bit. I don't know if I'll have to eventually have to pursue the shots, but for now I'll take the shoes, as they allow me to take walks and stand for long periods of time again. I also find that stretching my feet (toes toward leg,) before getting out of bed helps those first painful steps in the morning. Good luck!
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dees_1
10 years ago
I've had one for a year now. Have done all the stretching, cushioned inserts etc. It hurts sometimes more than others but the worst is when I "roll" on the heel the wrong way. It will put me down.

I will be going back to the doc for more options. I don't really want surgery but I'd like to get back to running again!
joaniepoanie
10 years ago
I had them twice years ago....several shots of cortisone in the heel did the trick...they never came back. Using arch supports also helps quite a bit.

Last year I developed a bone spur in my heel (different than heel spur). It took 8 months to go away....physical therapy, stretching exercises and several ultrasound treatments.
SunnyDJ
10 years ago
Oh boy, I feel his pain...Had them in the one heel and after shots and the stretching etc. no more pain, thank goodness......
cwnev
10 years ago
I had them years ago. I used sports tape and healed it. Took several months but I didn't want a shot in my heel.

You take the sports wrap first and put that around your arch. This saves your skin from hurting when you pull the tape off. Then take 6 to 8 inches of tape (sports Tape) and pull it up around your arch from the bottom. Tight but not too tight. I would put on one piece then stand to see if it holds the arch up. Then use a few more to make sure your arch has support. Then good shoes. I did this and my spur healed itself.

The cause of heel spurs my Dr told me was the muscle under your foot, the arch can get stretched too far and then the bone will grow to help that, well, walking on that extra bone in the foot hurts. So by supporting the arch muscle so it doesn't get overextended will prevent that. Hard to explain in words.

This is a pretty good video of what I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy1ZEJ-kKTg
jemdandy
10 years ago
I had a heel spur once and it was very painful. My Doc said that he could order out surgery, but that would be his option of last resort, but if I insisted, he would do it. His recommendation was to try other things first because the surgery can be as bad as a the malady and the healing time might be the same as alternate choices.

The xray showed that I had a calcium deposit that was poking the achilles tendon. (The achilles tendon runs down the back of the leg, flattens out like a belt and wraps around the heel and thense crosses the arch of the foot to fasten parts behind the ball of the foot.) The cure was to see if we could shrink the deposit and prevent agitating the tendon as much as possible. I had been wearing dressy shoe-boots that had a 1 inch lift in the heel. The first move was to ditch the shoes and wear something with a softer heel and no elevation. Changing footwear was enough to soften the load to the heel; A change in diet and more liquids to reduce the calcuim deposit helped. The deposit shrank on its own and that was the last of it. Healing time was 3 to 4 months, During that time, I used caution to prevent bruising that area.

After that, I chose shoe heel constuctions that protected the heel and avoided any heel lifts. Fortunately, the problem has stayed away for more than 20 years.

Originally, I developed the problem at a picnic when I ran to first base after batting the ball. By the time I got to first base, I had injured the tendon and was a cripple.
yayagal
10 years ago
He should probably get a Dr. Scholl's heel insert for plantar fascitis which he may have, it can't hurt to try. I think the wrapping would work too. I read there is a laser surgery for heel spurs, you may want to look in to that.
nanny98
10 years ago
It just never fails to surprise me that too often I have a 'problem', the KT has 'it' as a subject. Recently that heal spur started for me and I've been treating it. Just 2 days ago, I could not put any weight on it, so found the exercises on the web, as well as all the other options. I'm amazed at how quickly I got some relief, after doing the exercises for the last 2 ays. Still painful, but I'm getting around better. I imagine my MD appt. this week will talk about other options. Thanks for all the above answers.!!!! Nanny
User
10 years ago
My DH had one and he started wearing crocs, it did help.
sheilajoyce_gw
10 years ago
I agree, real Crocs helped me too as they have a better arch support, which is key. You can do exercises too--stand on a step (the bottom one) with your heels hanging out over the step, hold onto the railings, and drop your heels and hold that position for a bit. Repeat.

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