Ice-heel-spurs-Pain

Ice Your Heel Spur Pain

Heel spurs can be very painful and tender, especially when you're on your feet often. Heel bone spurs complicate foot pain by making it more likely for the pain to occur. The bone spurs aggravate the plantar fascia and surrounding tissue during normal activities. Basically this means plantar fasciitis is more likely to occur, will happen more often, and is easier to trigger an episode. It is not uncommon for people to have heel spurs and plantar fasciitis at the same time.

People mistakenly think that the source of their pain is from the spurs only. However much of the pain is from the aggravated plantar fascia. Plantar fasciitis is a condition with chronic aggravation to the fascia on the bottom of the foot. It becomes painful with prolonged standing, walking, running, or jumping activities. The pain feels like a constant dull ache or sharp stabbing pain. It can be very severe, especially first thing in the morning or after prolonged sitting. People can usually locally localize the pain to one area as the most intense. It has been described as a ice pick through the foot.

There are multiple treatments for bone spurs and plantar fasciitis. Icing is an excellent therapy to help decrease the pain and inflammation. Ice can be applied in 15 minute intervals. Ice the heel spur for 15 minutes and then remove the ice pack for 15 minutes and let the area warm up. People who ice more often feel more relief from the ice. Some people think icing wanted one to three times a day is enough. However with moderate or severe heel spurs icing 5-10 times is required.

If icing alone does not stop or diminish the heel spur pain, additional treatment may be needed. Many people respond to cold lasers or Graston technique to decrease their heel pain. These are excellent treatment options. Click here to find out more information on cold lasers or graston technique for heel pain.