Any Heel Spur Problems?

[dotofoz 0]

Hi. I'm still in the very early process of my testing/insurance approval, but am having TERRIBLE heel pain (especially in the AM). Anyone recommend any certain type of heel wrap or anything? I KNOW it's the added weight, but not what sure to do in the interim....

:help: :sick

[JMO 0]

Go to wallmart and get an arch brace. Its like 10 bucks and fits like an ace bandage. it lifts your arch up and helps with the pain. I used to go through this every morning when I got out of bed. it would KILL me the first 30 mins or so but got better throughout the day. Once I started wearing the brace it worked wonderful. After about a week of wearing it everyday thing greatly inproved. 6 months later I have no pain in the mornings.... good luck

[Josette 2]

I have a heel spur also and in the morning I would barely be able to walk on it. I then heard that if you stretch your foot before you get out of bed you'll get a lot of the stiffness out of it so I start every morning with stretching my foot by pointing my toes out and then pointing them up towards me and rotating my foot... anything that pulls that tendon that goes from the ball of my foot to my heel. It worked wonders and now I don't have pain at all. my podiatrist told me that the tendon tightens and then the pressure makes it pull from the heel, which gets inflamed and so Calcium deposits form around the inflamed area which turns in to a bone spur/heel spur. Stretching and massaging it fixed it for me. Good luck!

[Elisabethsew 50]

I need a total left knee replacement so, naturally, my weight shifts to the "good" leg. Over the past 5 months, the pain in my heel has been awful. I contemplated getting an x-ray (thinking I had a stress fracture) but what's the point when I can't take weight off the "good" because of the left knee? Talk about a Catch-22 situation. I look forward to what others suggest. As for stretching, it helps the tendon but NOT the heel pain in my case.

[travelgirl 3]

My podiatrist suggested that I keep a can of vegetables or something (I find that the skinner cans work better, like deodorant or hair spray) and roll your foot on it in the morning before you get out of bed for a few minutes, and a few times in the evening while you're relaxing. That stretches the tendon that is causing you the pain, so when you do get up and walk on it, it's not as painful...plus the coolness of the can helps shrink any inflammation.

Hope this helps!

[beachgirl 2]

I had the same thing with my right heel. I had 5 cortisone shots in my heal, wore the inserts, then the exercises, then the stretches, painpills, then finally surgery to take it out. It's never came back and I was only in a cast for 2 weeks it feels wonderful. Now, 1 week after being banded my left is doing the same thing. I dread another surgery but I will not waste my time and money this time, if it doesn't let up I will have it surgically removed. Good luck and hope it gets better soon, they are sooooo painful.

[Jachut 487]

I had surgery for heel spurs when I was about 18, but they were on the back of my heels, not the underneath where they usually are. They were very painful. When the heel/ankle pain started again last year I was sure I had spurs again, and I almost cried when xrays showed nothing because I just wanted something to fix the pain, I too was in agony when I got up in the morning, and after I sat down after dinner at night, it would kill me to walk again.

I had about six months of three times a week physio, that and the stretching etc they got me to do made it more manageable, in the end though it was a cortisone shot that fixed me up, by the time that wore off to any degree I"d lost 15kg and the pain had gone away to a huge degree.

My problem was chronic bursitis in one heel, and I"m sure its caused, like Elizabeth by my favouring one leg. I have a lower back problem that I"ve had since pregnancy and I can feel that my entire right leg functions differently to my left.

Unfortunately my heel is bothering me a bit again now (nothing like it was), disappointing after it had virtually gone away.

Its really debilitating and it just really drags down your quality of living, I hope you get it sorted soon, but really a good weight loss makes ALL the difference. It was the main reason I was banded and it was really very successful.

[giveyouthemoon 4]

I have a heel spur also and in the morning I would barely be able to walk on it. I then heard that if you stretch your foot before you get out of bed you'll get a lot of the stiffness out of it so I start every morning with stretching my foot by pointing my toes out and then pointing them up towards me and rotating my foot... anything that pulls that tendon that goes from the ball of my foot to my heel. It worked wonders and now I don't have pain at all.

This helped me as well. Every morning stretching it out REALLY helped me to walk first thing in the morning.

Also, getting the band and losing weight made them go away for which I'm VERY happy.

[*susan* 1,709]

Hey Karen,

Heel spurs can go away without some kind of surgical intervention? That is good news. I really don't know much about them. Two months before my surgery, I fell and sprained my ankle. They took x-rays of my foot and ankle just to make sure nothing was broken and wanted to know if my foot was in a lot of pain due to the large bone spur I have. Until then, I had never noticed any pain, and still have not experienced any from it. I figured someday it will start, but wasn't looking forward to it. That will be great if it goes away when the weight comes off.

[S@ssen@ch 745]

I had painful heel spurs several years ago. I was in physical therapy for something else at the time and talked to the therapist about it. She recommended the stretching exercises already discussed. I also stood about a foot or 2 from my wall with my feet flat on the floor then leaned forward so that I could feel the stretch in the bottom of my legs. This helped tremendously. Another one was to stand with the balls of your feet on a step and let your heels hang down a bit, it stretches the tendons in the arch. There are also great shoe inserts to help cushion and support your foot. I haven't tried the ones that are more arched, but I have tried others.

BTW, heel spurs do not go away without surgery. They are permanent and are always there. Most of the time they are not painful. It's when inflammation gathers around the spur that it becomes painful (bursitis). I'm pleased to read that mysherrijo was successful with her spur removal, in my experience as a nurse I haven't seen a lot of successful foot surgeries-spur removals or otherwise. She must have had a great doc.

[ericsmom 2]

I have this - it's called plantar's fascitis...I've had all the same things mentioned above prescribed by my doctor. He gave me a cortisone shot in the spur over a year ago and it's been fine ever since. Knock on wood it stays that way for a while longer

[giveyouthemoon 4]

When you've had plantar fascitis for a long time, the tendon calcifies, thus causing a bone spur. Bone spurs do not go away on their own. Plantar fascitiis does. I never had it go long enough or bad enough to be a bone spur, thank goodness. Losing weight made my painful heels stop hurting tho....(plantar fascitis).

[PattiU 1]

I hear ya girls! It's a killer! I am finally having my left foot done July 28th, 1 week before being banded on August the 8th. Should be a fun few weeks. Afterwards I want to be able to walk for exercise and not be in constant pain. I had 2 of them for years and worked every day as a hair stylist! The shots worked off and on, but I'm tired f it. The thing the doc says is NO BAREFOOTIN' ever! even flip flops in the shower! Mine always was worse in summer . I'm scared about both operations. but it will be okay!:help:

[BeacheeGirl 0]

i had them really bad but i lost 10 lbs and it got better. also, buy some birkenstocks (sp?) you can find good deals on them on eBay. They have a natural arch and they yelp soooo much. theyt have some now that are cute and not so ugly.

[Jachut 487]

Oh yes, birkenstocks, I live in them. I was prescribed orthotics but I couldnt wear any summer shoes with them and I'm not ready for lace ups just yet thanks. I got a couple of pairs of birks for the summer, they were brilliant.