HEEL SPURS DON'T HURT

Then why do you have heel pain?

Does your foot hurt when you take the first step out of bed in the morning?

When you walk around does the pain ease a bit,  then after sitting  it starts hurting when you get up again?

If so, you have typical HEEL SPUR SYNDROME.

An x-ray will probably show a heel spur, which is actually an elongation of the bone.  However the spur is not what hurts.  There is a ligament which attaches to the heel bone and extends to the toes.  If you pull your big toe up you will feel how tight the ligament gets in the arch area.  This structure is tough like leather.  It does not stretch but it rips.  It usually rips at the weakest point which is where it attaches to the heel bone.  As the fibers rip a spur grows.  The body tries to protect itself by making a small sac of fluid called a bursa.  The bursa acts like a pillow in the area of the spur.  When a bursa is inflammed we add itis to its name...thus becoming bursitis.  Most people are familiar with bursitis in the shoulder or the hip.  These are usually treated with a shot of cortisone.

When heel spur syndrome is diagnosed I will do three things.

Sometimes one treatment gets rid of the problem, but don't hold your breath.  On the average I find 3 to 4 weeks of the above treatment along with custom arch devices called orthotics will give long term relief in eight out of ten cases.  The remaining heel sufferers eventually undergo surgery.