Medical Questions » Feet Questions » Question No. 358
| Question: | What are spurs in the heel, and are there any home remedies? |
| Answer: | Beneath and behind your heel, large ligaments and tendons attach to the heel bone (calcaneus). The attachment of these ligaments and tendons can be stressed by prolonged over use (eg. being on your feet all day at work), or by a sudden injury. Long-distance running is a classical way in which to injure these attachments, but in older people, far milder stress can cause problems.
After injuring an attachment, the healing process will involve both the tendon or ligament, and the bone to which it attaches. During the healing process, part of the ligament or tendon may be replaced by bone, leading to a spur of bone out from the calcaneus. These spurs can be seen on an x-ray.
Spurs are subject to further injury, and may have tiny microscopic stress fractures in them, which involve the equally tiny nerves in the area to cause chronic pain. Rest will heal the spur, but further use often results in further pain.
The only home remedies are rest and thick padded insoles in shoes (eg. Sorbathane) to protect the spur. If these remedies are not successful, antiinflammatory medication prescribed by your doctor may give some relief, but injections around the spur or surgical removal of the spur is often necessary.
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