GuestPost: Heel Spurs!

Hi bombshell's and gents. 

This month will include as series of guest posts. I'm really busy this month but I want you all to still be able to get quality content in my absence! So I got in touch with some blogger buddies and well.. the rest is history! This week Ashley is back and this time she's enlightening us on heel spurs! Check out her other guest post here if you missed it! Please show her some love my dear readers and take notes!

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Think you have a heel spur? Think again.

 Have you ever thought you had a heel spur? Maybe it starts as a sharp pain along the bottom of your heel, kind of suddenly. Maybe it was a gradual discomfort that increasingly got worse over the course of a few days. Or maybe you had another path to debilitating heel pain leading up to your desperate Google search for “heel spur symptoms.”

Because something called a “heel spur” sounds like it would be a sharp pain in the heel, it’s completely understandable why having this kind of pain might lead you to think you’ve got a heel spur. In fact, lots of people self-diagnose a heel spur and seek remedies for that condition.

The thing is, heel spurs are actually very rarely painful. The heel spur is a calcium deposit on the very bottom of the heel, coming out like a hook toward the toe. Many times people can have these deposits without experiencing any pain, but when they do flare up and cause trouble, they can be found via x-ray.

So what causes a heel spur to flare up? It’s commonly thought that plantar fasciitis is the real culprit. Plantar fasciitis, which is the medical name for inflammation of the plantar fasciia (the connective tissue going from the heel, along the bottom of the foot, to the base of the toes), has long been thought to be caused by weak or collapsed arches. The more flattened the arch gets, the more strain is placed on the plantar fascia, and therefore the more likely it is to become inflamed and cause pain at its main connection point, the base of the heel.

While the medical community’s understanding of plantar fasciitis is changing, there does still seem to be a connection between heel spurs and plantar fasciitis. Quite often the treatment for heel spur pain takes the same form as treatment for plantar fasciitis, too – stretches in the morning, arch supports, anti-inflammatory measures including medication and ice therapy, and sometimes cortisone shots or even botox injections (say what?!).

So! If you ever have that sharp pain along the bottom of your heel, don’t think heel spur. Think plantar fasciitis! And act accordingly. There’s plenty of information about self-treatments for plantar fasciitis, including a few posts I’ve written across the internet about plantar fasciitis stretches and other plantar fasciitis remedies.

Ashley Gainer is a freelance writer and editor living in Chapel Hill, NC. When she’s not busy chasing the toddler or accommodating the ornery papillon, she writes about health and wellness, both as a freelancer and for the family biz (selling plantar fasciitis insoles and splints, among other things).

xoxo, Preshii


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