Your heel bears your full body weight every time you walk, stand, or run. The heel is built to do heavy lifting — but sometimes, repeated stress or strain can cause small injuries to the soft tissues, ligaments, and tendons surrounding your heel bone (the calcaneus).
As your body tries to repair these micro-injuries, it can deposit extra calcium. That calcium buildup can harden into a small, bony growth called a heel spur located at the bottom or back of your heel.
Heel spurs form slowly, so you might not discover you have one until you experience heel pain and get an X-ray. Our team at Legacy Foot & Ankle specializes in diagnosing and treating heel pain, and here’s what we want you to know if you’re dealing with this common condition.
Since heel spurs are calcium deposits that grow over time, they don’t always cause symptoms, and some people live with them unknowingly. When symptoms do appear, they may include:
Heel spur pain often stems from soft-tissue stress and inflammation, not the bony growth itself. Because of that, it’s often described as a deep ache, burning, or stabbing discomfort rather than a sharp bone-on-ground pain.
For some people, heel spur pain can improve slightly with activity, but it often returns after rest. This is a common pattern when the soft tissues around the spur (like the plantar fascia) are irritated.
Heel spurs grow over time in response to repeated strain, stress, or injury to the soft tissues in your foot. Certain factors can increase your risk, and as we age, the natural cushioning under the heel bone can thin, and soft tissues lose elasticity — both of which can make the heel more vulnerable to stress and spur formation.
Repeated stress from high-impact activities like running, jumping, or walking long distances can cause heel spurs, as can inadequate or worn-out footwear that doesn’t provide proper arch support or cushioning. Hard surfaces and poor support increase stress on your heel bone and surrounding tissues, increasing your risk of heel spurs.
Biomechanical issues like abnormal gait, flat feet, or unusually high arches can distribute your body weight unevenly and concentrate pressure on the heel. Being overweight can also put extra strain on your heels and increase stress on the ligaments and plantar fascia.
Sometimes, other podiatric conditions, such as chronic inflammation of the plantar fascia (plantar fasciitis), create soft-tissue stress and tears in the plantar fascia, which trigger calcium deposits and bone spurs.
Heel spurs can make each step painful, but there is good news. Even if you have a heel spur, nonsurgical, conservative treatments can provide real, lasting pain relief. At Legacy Foot & Ankle, we use a comprehensive approach, which includes proper footwear, orthotics, physical therapy, and targeted treatments before we consider invasive procedures.
We typically start by recommending rest and activity modification. Reducing or avoiding activities that stress your heel — especially running, jumping, or long periods of standing — gives inflamed tissues a chance to heal. Applying ice and using over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications can reduce swelling and pain, especially after activity.
Once initial symptoms subside, we can discuss supportive footwear and custom orthotics. Shoes with good arch support and heel padding or custom-made orthotics can help redistribute pressure, reduce heel strain, and relieve ongoing stress.
Stretching and physical therapy exercises help manage discomfort in the long term. For example, gentle stretches for your calf muscles, Achilles tendon, and plantar fascia can improve flexibility and reduce tension that pulls on your heel.
In more severe cases, we offer cortisone injections or other medical interventions for persistent pain. Because heel pain from bone spurs often stems from inflammation and tissue stress, surgery to remove the spur itself is rarely necessary.
If heel pain is limiting your daily life, don’t accept the discomfort as “just part of getting older.” Schedule an evaluation, get a proper diagnosis, and start on a treatment plan designed to help your heels support you, not hold you back. Request your first appointment online or reach out to our clinics in Bay City, Caro, Lapeer, and Rochester Hills, Michigan, today.
