Heel Spurs and Standing at Work All Day

Dear Ask The Doctor: I have been diagnosed with heel spurs, and I am in alot of pain daily. The bad thing is I have to stand on my feet 8+ hours a day at work. I have no insurance and I was just wondering if there were anything over the counter that I could use to relieve my daily pain.

Dear Tara: Plantar Fasciitis is produced by inflammation of the insertion on the heel of the plantar fascia (a fibrous layer that supports the plantar arch muscles and ligaments), causing remarkable heel pain that alters your normal daily activities. It is the most common cause of heel pain in US. It can be associate or not with a “heel spur”. Initially the pain tends to decrease with walking but gets worse throughout the day as activity increases. The pain worsens by walking barefoot on hard surfaces or walking up stairs.

The suggested strategy to treat conservatively and “over-the-counter” plantar fasciitis associated with Heel spur would be: physical therapy aimed to stretch the muscles of the calf and foot, using ice packs after the exercise routine to decrease inflammation and pain, relative rest (avoiding activities that reproduce the heel pain), use of anti inflammatory drugs (example: “Advil”) and replacement of worn-out shoes by adequately cushioned shoes.

For cases that do not respond to the conservative treatment, the corticosteroid injection on the site may be considered and if still there is no significant improvement, Surgery might be considered.