Finally heel pain explained!

[KnottedYet]

We used to do iontophoresis with acetic acid to heel spurs to help soften them up and resorb them. Depending on the size and thickness of your spur, it may or may not be worth a try.

[mimitabby]

Knot, what is that?
My son Tom has a heel spur from an old injury (either Karate or climbing)
so i don't think it's postural but it sure could be..

It has been suggested to him that he have surgery but he keeps putting it off.

[KnottedYet]

soak an iontophoresis pad (like a big gooey bandaid) with acetic acid (the stuff in vinegar) slap if on the heel, and run an electric current thru the pad and then out a grounding pad with no acetic acid.

The current drives the acetic acid thru the skin and into the area around the heel spur, where the acidity helps to disolve the spur.

It doesn't get rid of the spur, and it doesn't stop whatever structural or functional issues are causing the spur, but I've seen it decrease the severity of spurs enough that with PT and shoe adjustments the patients could avoid surgery.

It doesn't work for everyone, but it does work for some.

[Offthegrid]

I had something done with ultrasound in physical therapy. Waved a wand over my foot. It felt really good, but that could have just been the massage.

[Wahine]

+1 what OTG and Knot said.

You really don't want to have surgery if at all possible and conservative management can often resolve the pain if not the spur.

One thing to remember is that your body put that spur there for a reason. There is too much tension on the plantar fascia and it's pulling on the bone. The bone responds by laying down more bone to try to heal it, much like it would in the case of a fracture. You need to resolve the stress on the fascia to solve the problem. That's where PT, orthotics and stretching come in. If you go in and take out the spur without solving the biomechanical issues, you can continue to have problems, not to mention the risk of surgery.