“Hi, I’m Dr. Wachtel, and today I’m going to talk about heel spurs. Many patients in our practice who have heel pain ask, “Do I have a heel spur?” Heel spurs are actually bony growths that attach at the bottom of the heel. Most heel spurs are on the bottom of the foot are at the attachment of what we call the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a cord of tissue that stretches from your heel to your toes and is one of the supporting mechanisms of your foot when you land. When we land, the foot collapses and that creates tension in that fascia. On the bottom of the foot, where the tension is and where the fascia attaches to the heel, a bony growth occurs. As the tension and pressure increase, so does the stress on the bone.
In our practice, many of our patients come in with all sorts of different problems with their feet. The spur itself on the bottom of the heel is a coincidental finding. When you have a heel spur, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have heel pain.
Years ago the thought was that if you have a heel spur, it needs to be removed. At this point in our practice we know that heel spurs typically don’t hurt, and we never surgically remove the spur, we actually treat the inflammation of the arch cord, called the plantar fascia. If you have a heel spur and you have a problem with your feet, we recommend that you come to see us. We can evaluate all of the different ways of treating you – and remember, most heel spurs don’t hurt.”