Until recently, calcaneal spur was very rare and appeared after a trauma to the foot. Now this diagnosis is put much more often, because his reasons are overweight, flat feet, prolonged physical activity, intense sport. The disease develops due to problems with joints, back and disorders in connective tissues.
The calcaneal spur is formed on the calcaneus, and represents the outgrowth of the bone tissue in the form of a spine. This neoplasm presses on soft tissues. Ailment makes itself felt by the pain, amplifying during walking, and calming down at rest. This is one of the diagnostic signs of the disease.
Depending on the complicating factors, pain can be collected in one place, or be spread out. A prolonged course of the disease leads to inflammation of the surrounding tissues.
The popular name "heel spur" has a scientific definition as a subclavian bursitis and plantar fasciitis. Two diseases are combined in one name, as they cause inflammation of the periosteum when walking due to mechanical irritation.
After a certain time, a small spine develops at the site of trauma, an osteophyte. But the spur itself can not be a consequence of the disease, but only a feature of the organism.
Content
- 1Symptoms of the calcaneal spur
- 2Causes
- 3Is there a fast and effective treatment?
Symptoms of the calcaneal spur
The most characteristic signs of the heel spur are heel pains, which are especially aggravated by supporting it and in the morning.Another name for the symptom is "starting pain". During the day, severe pain may gradually fade, but in the evening appear again.
These pains are characterized as acute and burning. Many patients compare them with the feeling of a nail in the heel. Hence the modified gait of patients who try not to overload the disturbing place.
If both legs are hit, it becomes extremely difficult to move, and those suffering from the disease try to shift the center of balance from the heels to the outer edge of the foot or toe. As a consequence, a transverse flatfoot develops. Pressing on the heel of the hill or squeezing it from both sides causes strong pain.
Visual changes are not noticeable.Precisely conduct the diagnosis of the calcaneal spur will help radiological picture. On it the spur is visible in the form of an ossified site of the connection of the calcaneus and the plantar muscle.
Various unpleasant sensations caused by the heel spur, directly depend on the place of appearance and form of the built-up edge. The pain causes only the sharp edge of the spine, since it is he that causes injury to the tissues. The size of the tubercle is of secondary importance. Sometimes a small flat spike delivers more problems than a large one. Cases are described when the osteophytic after a few months is rounded off, and the pain passes, although the build-up on the bone is preserved.
Causes
In an overwhelming number of people, the root cause of the spur is flat feet, when the bone and tendon in the area of the foot are unnecessarily loaded.Sometimes with flat feet the tendon starts to inflame, and from it also the surface of bone tissue.
Predisposition to the disease can be in people of a certain constitutional type and individual occupations. itpeople who are overweight, and athletes who have an excessive load on the foot.People with problems of lower joints and spine are often ill.
The cause of pain is mainly inflammation in the Achilles tendon and tendons of the soles of the soles. Often the radiograph actually shows an education that resembles a "spur".
But not always the given sign will be diagnostic, that is a true sign of the disease, as in 5% of healthy people a similar phenomenon is observed. There may be an opposite situation, when strong pains in the heel do not have pathological bone growths, and are not visible on the x-ray.
The exact cause of the calcaneal spur has not yet been established.After all, by nature it must be elastic for the proper functioning of the plantar muscle. But almost always the formed process hardens, turning into a bone, even if there is a lack of calcium in the body.
So,The most likely cause of the spur is the injury of the tendon or its overload.To the whole group of diseases, united under this name, include such pathologies:
- overload of the tendon due to uncomfortable shoes;
- rupture or extension of the tendon;
- bruises of calcaneus with inflammation of adjacent tissues;
- excessive walking with flat feet.
In addition to these, there are other possible causes, for example, infectious diseases, especially sexual ones, when the inflammation of the heels is of a reactive nature. Diseases associated with an imbalance of body metabolic processes, such as gout. Hereditary diseases - Bekhterev's disease, etc.
Is there a fast and effective treatment?
The danger of the spur is that there is no specific method for its treatment.
Treatment of the disease consists in the application of a set of therapeutic measures:
- Drug treatment.Used gels and ointments for night applications and warm wraps reduce inflammation in the calcaneal region and adjacent tissues. Local effects date the administration of corticosteroids. This method does not remove the causes of the disease, but fights only with symptoms.
- Physiotherapeutic procedures.Laser therapy, magnetotherapy, X-ray and shock wave therapy are used. Electrophoresis courses are conducted. The activities are aimed at combating pain and inflammation.
- Physiotherapy.It is used to activate the circulation of the foot. Will help correctly redistribute the weight and walk correctly.
- Massotherapy.Relieves muscle tension and inflammation. Some masseurs claim that their sessions can break the build-up itself.
- The use of orthopedic shoesto redistribute the load on the foot and reduce the pain syndrome.
There are extreme cases where previous methods of exposure do not help get rid of the heel spur, the pain and condition of the patient does not improve, then surgical intervention is used.
It involves the removal of bone build-up by several methods differing in cost and time of postoperative recovery. It must be borne in mind that during the operation, the entire site of the plantar muscle connection to the heel bone is also removed. To form it again, it will take some time.
In addition to traditional measures of treatment, there are other ways to remove spurs on the heels without using drugs - thisfolk medicine, the essence of which is the use of tinctures, the use of baths, compresses and lotions, therapeutic clay, and even urinotherapy.
Although there are many ways to combat the disease, it is much easier to observe prevention than to treat a spur on the foot. To do this, you need to wear comfortable quality shoes, maintain an optimal body weight, and promptly, when problems arise, treat the spine. It is very important to perform flatfoot correction. But, if the disease still started, you need to undergo medical treatment under medical supervision.
