Heel Pain / Heel Spur – Treatment

1. Biomechanical Deviations are undoubtedly the biggest cause of heel pain as they put an adverse strain on some structures for a prolonged period of time – flat feet being the main offender.
2. Sometimes it will be trauma such as jumping on to a hard surface or repetitive landing in your sport.
3. It may also be due to a sudden increase in activity for example when you get a mid life crises and make a burst to get fit.
4. Another big influence is footwear, especially slip on sandals or flip flops, we are usually inundated with middle aged holiday makers in September when they return from 2 weeks in the sun. We expect a huge increase in years to come from today’s teenagers as the slop around in ill fitting shoes.
5. As you get older the fat pad under your heel thins and can be a factor.

What is a heel spur?

A heel spur is a small boney growth under the heel at the attachment of the plantar fascia.

It occurs as a result of repeated trauma to the bone as the fascia repetitively pulls at its insertion into the bone, this causes micro bleeds which eventually become calcified and cause a little boney growth out from the bone.

This can take about a year for this to happen and then it may remain painful for another year. If left untreated it will usually become less painful after a few years as the body adjusts to this. It’s important to realise though that it may recur as the causes will not have altered.