For heel spur sufferers, every step can feel like there’s a nail poking into your foot. A heel spur is a sharp bony protrusion on the bottom of the heel bone caused by a calcium deposit. For severe cases, surgery is available however a last option as most heel spurs respond to conservative treatment methods (1). Despite its obvious appearance on x-ray, sometimes finding the real cause of the pain can be tricky, as there may be several causes other than the spike in your heel. If you suffer with pain from a heel spur, it’s important you go to a doctor who’s well trained in the most effective natural methods for treating this problem. There are several and we practice all of them at Solutions Integrated Medicine.
Heel spurs do cause heel pain, however most are asymptomatic. When they do, it’s from a local inflammation that can be caused by excessive walking, running or wearing shoes with no arch support. Oddly enough, bone spurs are not the only cause of heel pain; sometimes patients have heel pain that’s originating from other sources. For example, the terminal branches of the L5 nerve root wraps around the heel. When this nerve is pinched from an L5 disc problem, it can cause burning pain in the heel or sharp, pinpoint pain in the heel (mimicking the pain of a heel spur). Sometimes plantar fasciitis can also cause heel pain, but can also be a contributing factor in developing a heel spur; these problems often go hand in hand.
So if you’re suffering from heel pain, how do you know if it’s coming from a bone spur, a pinched nerve in the lower back or something else? YOU DON’T and this is why going to the right doctor is important - so you can get the right diagnosis from the beginning and treatment that addresses the cause of the problem. At Solutions, we are an integrated team consisting of both medical and chiropractic staff, so we know how important it is to check for problems in the lower spine and pelvis in heel pain cases. We also see tremendous results using regenerative medicine trigger point injections and offer rehabilitation specifically designed for plantar fasciitis and heel spur cases. If you have heel pain, call us at 423-542-2913 or make an appointment online here.
- Heel Spurs and Plantar Fasciitis, Rick Ansorge; Medically Reviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD on August 28, 2020 https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/heel-spurs-pain-causes-symptoms-treatments
