How to treat a heel spur?

Heel spur (plantar fasciitis) Is an inflammation of the plantar (plantar)fascia, a shell of connective tissue, which is a kind of "case" for the muscles. Against the background of inflammation in the attachment of the tendon, bone growths often occur, injuring the surrounding soft tissues. They are called heel spurs.

The main symptom of the calcaneal spur is acute pain in the heel region (often patients compare it with a nail in the heel). Usually, it arises or intensifies under load, as well as in the morning. Often at the beginning of the disease, pain is paroxysmal, calming down and intensifying throughout the day, and eventually becomes more or less permanent.

The basis for the diagnosis of "plantar fasciitis" is the patient's complaints, examination of the doctor and X-ray or ultrasound examination, which allow confirming or refuting the presence of the calcaneal spur.

The heel spur is predominantly affected by people over 40 years of age, with more women predisposed to this disease. The probability of development of calcaneal spurs increases excess weight, problems with the spine,platypodia, diseases of large joints of the legs, traumas of the calcaneus, gout, impaired circulation of the legs. Also, plantar fasciitis occurs in athletes with prolonged loads in the heel area.

How to treat a heel spur? Not trusting doctors, some patients are trying to to heal a heel spur folk remedies: apply birch bark or lard to the heel,rub it with tincture of lilac flowers, steam their feet in the baths with salt or even piss, make various ointments and lotions. But doctors are skeptical about the popular treatment of the heel spur: often it does more harm than good. Doing self-medication, you can even become disabled.

So it is better to treat the heel spur under the supervision of a qualified specialist - orthopedist or surgeon. Usually heal spurs are complex, combining its treatment with the treatment of the underlying disease, which caused the development of plantar fasciitis (toexample, flat feet or arthritis). Basically, doctors try to treat the heel spur conservatively, setting the task not to get rid of the spur itself, but to eliminate the inflammatory process and pain.

The first and indispensable condition for treating the heel spur is discharge of a diseased limb. For this you need to wear a specialorthopedic footwear with a groove in the heel or individual orthopedic insoles. Avoid wearing both high heels and shoes on an absolutely flat sole.

To treat the calcaneal spur used massage and therapeutic gymnastics to improve blood circulation, as well asPhysiotherapy (ultrasound, electrophoresis, magnetotherapy, laser therapy, UFO). If these funds do not help, you can try to treat the heel spur by X-ray therapy.

Another method of treatment - shock wave therapy. Since this method is new, talk about iteffectiveness early, although the first results are encouraging. In addition, UHT is contraindicated in pregnant women and people with malignant neoplasms or with clotting disorders.

If conservative treatment does not work, they can prescribe drug blockade - introduction of drugs with localanti-inflammatory effect. They stop the pain syndrome and help fight inflammation. But the injection can be done only by an experienced specialist - mistakes during drug blockages can have very unpleasant consequences.

Usually they try not to treat the heel spursurgical methods, saving them for the most severe cases, when none of the conservative methods helped. The operation eliminates only the consequence of the disease, and not its cause, therefore indications for surgical intervention are extremely limited. But in most cases, conservative treatment is quite effective.

That you never had to treat a heel spur, you need to advance take preventive measures, aimed at the prevention of bone diseaseand joints. You should wear only comfortable shoes, and with flat feet - orthopedic insoles. It is necessary to lead a mobile way of life, but at the same time avoid overloading the feet. Diseases of the joints and the spine should be treated promptly. It is also very important to prevent flatfoot and fight against excess weight.