Heel Pain X-ray YES or NO by Dr Brenden Brown – Podiatrist

Heel Pain X-ray YES or NO by Dr Brenden Brown – Podiatrist

Heel Pain X-ray YES or NO by Dr Brenden Brown - Podiatrist

Transcript

So, you've got heel pain and you want to know whether or not you need an X-ray. Well, guess what? I'm here to tell you that you most probably don't.

Why you ask? Most times no matter what great aunt Beth tells you, heel spurs on the bottom of your heel don't actually cause pain.

Now we know that because stacks of people actually have and present with heel spurs, but actually have no pain whatsoever.

You need to trust your clinician to actually make the right diagnosis for you. We know from research as well that heel spurs don't cause pain.

There's stacks of evidence out there, so you probably are better off spending your money and your time getting other treatments or information rather than getting an X-ray.

I hope that helps. Make sure you head to our information below and our links to look up more information about heel pain, foot types, and other sports injuries. We look forward to making you happy, healthy and active.

Bye for now.

There’s something special about shoes, they give you a high like nothing else.Edgardo Osorio, Aquazzura Fashion Designer

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

* No medical treatment can guarantee 100% success. Registered medical and health professions in Australia are by law not allowed to guarantee success. This comes as a result of all human bodies reacting differently to treatments. Patients should thoroughly consider all treatment options available to them.

Heel spur and Why you don’t have one by Dr Brenden Brown – Podiatrist

Heel spur and Why you don’t have one by Dr Brenden Brown – Podiatrist

Heel spur and Why you don’t have one by Dr Brenden Brown - Podiatrist

Transcript
So let's talk about do heel spurs actually cause pain? Guess what? The answer is probably not. Most pain in your heel is actually a result of soft tissue injury. That's right. The tendons, muscles, or nerves around your heel are the reason for the pain, and not the bony spur at all.

Now, how do we know this? There's stacks of ways and one of them is research. So we've done loads of research that actually shows that on taking x-rays of oodles of people, we've found that despite lots of people having x-rays, only a very tiny percent of those people actually have any pain. Now, if the spur causes the pain, shouldn't they all have pain? Hmmm, yeah, you see, that's one of the reasons why we know that most heel spurs don't cause pain.

Now what else do we know? Heel spurs don't come and go, right? Once you've got a heel spur, it's there the whole time. It's not going to come and go like the cast of "Neighbours." No one's moving to Queensland to get a job, right? Okay, so your spur is not going to suddenly appear and not appear, but that's what often happens with pain in your heel.

So again, that's a classic example of why it's most likely not a result of the heel spur.

The second thing that people often tell me is that they had a heel spur but it dissolved or it went away, or they smashed it with a Bible. Hmmm, again, I've got to tell you, in 20+ years of doing this job, I've never seen one that's dissolved, and I've never seen a successful smashing of a Bible on the spur. So it's most likely, again, not a heel spur.

There’s something special about shoes, they give you a high like nothing else.Edgardo Osorio, Aquazzura Fashion Designer

I realise that there's stacks of information out there and Auntie Bess is going to tell you that it's a heel spur that's causing your pain. Somewhere along the lines, you're going to have to trust me more than Auntie Bess. I hope that helps you with some of the confusion about why it's probably not a heel spur.

Want more information? That's fantastic. There's stacks of videos that we've made. Look down below. There's most likely a link there, or check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc., all the normal socials because we've got stacks of educational videos on heel pain and all the other conditions that we look after. Thanks and stay happy, healthy and active.

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

* No medical treatment can guarantee 100% success. Registered medical and health professions in Australia are by law not allowed to guarantee success. This comes as a result of all human bodies reacting differently to treatments. Patients should thoroughly consider all treatment options available to them.

How Fiona Beat Heel Pain

How Fiona Beat Heel Pain

How Fiona Beat Heel Pain

Meet Fiona

Is it really a heel spur's that causes the pain?

Fiona is a 43-year-old lady with two teenage daughters and a busy household. In the past six months she has returned to exercise by joining a gym, which she is …. or was really enjoying.

Lately she has been waking up in the morning, placing her heels on the ground, only to get what she describes as "excruciating pain". She feels the same pain if she sits for long periods and tries to stand: the pain, while not as bad as those first few steps in the morning, can make her hobble. This is now a BIG problem as she was really enjoying her return to fitness and wants to see what she can do to rid herself of the pain.

A visit to the GP

She visited her GP who spoke to her about a heel spur, he took x-rays and indeed there was a heel spur in the picture. He explained to her that generally very few surgeons will operate on heel spurs and there is little she can do but wait out the pain which on average would go away after about 18 months! He did give her some general stretches and said he could try an injection if she really wanted, but it was painful!

 

Off to the chemist

Fiona also went to the chemist to try to buy some heel pads to take pressure of the heel. She tried these for about a month. While they worked for a short while, the pain quickly returned.  She also tried some very cushioned shoes, again while this was comfortable at first within a short period of time this very expensive pair of sneakers gave little relief.

On attending an appointment at A step Ahead Foot and Ankle care Fiona was just about to give up. A friend referred her after they had suffered a similar pain and our podiatry team had made her pain free.

A diagnosis

Did you know that there is over a dozen different diagnosis for heel pain – YUP if you don’t get that part right you’re off to a rocky start! Our Podiatrist, after a thorough assessment, diagnosed Fiona with plantar fasciitis in this case. Plantar fasciitis is a soft tissue condition of the underside of the foot starting at the heel, where much of the pain is located, however the pain can radiate out towards the toes where the fascia again ends. The pain can begin quiet subtly at first and can last on and off for many patients for many years. Now that all sounds easy but guess what?

Shock wave is a new and highly effective treatment.

Treatment

Shock wave is a new and highly effective treatment.

We discussed a treatment plan with Fiona to rid her of her heel pain, this included looking at some new more appropriate runners, a series of STRENGTH exercise NOT stretching, and soft tissue treatment options. Our Podiatrist provided Fiona with options which included:

  • New Footwear- A super important component of stopping this pain FAST is getting really specific! Our Doctors never leave this to chance! Like Fiona they will look at your foot shape and type, and your walking pattern, then recommend a shoe exactly for you!
  • Deep connective tissue massage – This is a firm to hard massage which is in this condition under taken on the base of the foot around the heel and into your calf muscle as this is almost always also tight. These sessions can range from as short as one a week for 3 weeks but up to 12 – 18 weeks long, dependent on how long your pain has been present.
  • Shockwave Therapy (Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT)) – While Shockwave is a relatively new treatment which we have found very successful. Our Doctors have been suing this for over 7 years with great success! The basic principles behind shockwave therapy are the high-pressure acoustic shockwaves that travel through the skin to stimulate pain relief and tissue repair. We have found this treatment very successful and sees patients recover quicker. Most patients like Fiona recover within 6 to 9 weeks. This treatment is often recommended by sport physicians and orthopaedic surgeons. (Be warned - How long has your Practitioner been using this?)
  • Progressive Muscle Loading – Much to Fiona surprise our Doctors asked Fiona to STOP stretching! Despite what you may read on DR Google and friends the most modern research says stop stretching and start working on building your tendon strength!
  • Orthotic therapy – Orthoses are designed to hold your feet in a “corrected position”. Feet that are in poorly positioned or have poor foot posture have to over work which in turn causes muscles to over work and is most often the reason why people develop foot pain. While there are varying devices that do this there is no replacing custom made orthoses. These devices are made to match your foot exactly. - HARD RIGID orthotics can cause you MORE PAIN!! Soft pliable devices are the way to go!

A choice

In this instance Fiona opted for the quicker Shockwave therapy and orthotic therapy. Her podiatrist helped her select the correct foot wear to purchase from a footwear retailer. We then also provided her with an Isometric Strength exercises - NO NOT STRETCHES! that's right NOT stretching! Our team worked with Fiona to build up her strength readying the surrounding muscles for its work ahead at the same time as repairing the damaged tissue. On each occasion of shockwave reviewed these and provided supportive sports tapping to further support her foot.

A recovery

Fiona attended for shockwave over a period of five weeks and made good progress over that time with her pain dropping slowly over the first two weeks and then quickly once combined with her orthoses and more appropriate footwear.

At week five it was decided to push her appointments out to fortnightly and then when this was found successful out again another month. In total Fiona attended a total of seven times before her pain was relieved completely.

We introduced Fiona slowly back to attending the gym, with strict instruction on stretching and appropriate footwear for her foot type.  Fiona made a full recovery and with a month had returned to three gym sessions a week and a walk with friends for exercise on weekends.

 

How Can We Help?

If you’ve read this far you most likely have Heel Pain…. good guess right! If you have heel pain and you are serious about getting better it’s time to take action.

If you need more info you can book a  phone consult with one of our Heel Pain Experts. Our Foot Doctors will revise where you are and advise you on your next steps – Book a call back here!

Want to read more?

How about the common myths around heel pain?

DOWNLOAD Dr Brenden’s FREE report on beating heel pain!

Or call our helpful team who are used to speaking to literally thousands of patients with heel pain! Our number is 02 9673 2987. We would love to help!

 

Think you have a heel spur? Think again

Think you have a heel spur? Think again

Think you have a heel spur? Think again - 1

Think you have a heel spur? Think again

There’s a myriad mystery and misinformation about heel spurs. Just the thought alone of having a hard protruding growth on the bottom of the heel is more than a little alarming — but really, it needn’t be.

What is a heel spur?

“A heel spur is a small bony growth at the underside of the heel bone. People call it a spur or a calcification. We might also call it an exostosis (a benign outgrowth of cartilaginous tissue),” explains sports podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care Dr Brenden Brown.

“Heel spurs are incredibly common. I see it in about 40-50% of the x-rays I perform. “However, the vast majority of people with heel spurs experience NO PAIN whatsoever.

“In all of the time I have been a podiatrist (which is 20 plus years) I have seen two symptomatic heel spurs. I’ve seen lots of heel spurs but only two that have ever presented with associated pain.

“So if we talk about the signs of symptoms of heel spurs there aren’t really any apart from having a large bony or hard nodule on the underside of the heel pad that doesn’t feel the same as the other foot and cannot be depressed (pushed or squashed).

“99% of people who come to me saying they have pain from a heel spur do not have pain as a result of a spur.

“A heel spur won’t bother you unless it’s prominent beneath your foot and the orientation of the spur is angled more towards the ground; this could cause some pain and discomfort. However, I’ve read about these types of spurs but I’ve never even seen one. Not in 20 years of practicing.”

Think you have a heel spur? Think again - 2

5 heel spur facts

  1. Your pain is most likely not caused by a heel spur

The vast array of people with heel spurs have NEVER HAD A DAY OF PAIN in their life

  1. Heel spur pain doesn’t come and go like a yo-yo

In those very rare cases where people do have a heel spur that’s causing them pain—the pain doesn’t come and go.

“If you have a friend who tells you they had a heel spur and the pain went away you have to ask yourself ‘where did that pain go?’ The pain of a heel spur isn’t like the cast of Neighbours – it doesn’t travel from Melbourne to Queensland to get a job and never return!”

  1. Silica won’t cure a heel spur

“People have told me they took silica and it miraculously dissolves their spur. I have to ask these patients ‘how on earth did the silica dissolve your bony spur but manage to leave the rest of the foot in tact. How did it not also dissolve the frontal lobe of your skull?”

  1. No operation needed

Even if you do have a heel spur, which most of the time is an incidental finding on an x-ray, you don’t need an operation to remove it.

  1. Cortisone won’t help your heel pain

For most people cortisone is useless in treating heel pain. In fact, studies have shown that after three months 56% of people who were having cortisone injections for their heel pain had zero reduction in pain.

If it’s not a heel spur — what is causing my pain?

Heel pain can be caused by a variety of other reasons including: plantar fasciitis, plantar fasciosis, abductor hallucis strain or tibialis posterior tendinosis.

If you are suffering from heel pain, be sure to visit your local podiatrist but don’t be fooled into automatically thinking that it’s a heel spur—it’s highly likely that it’s not!

Related articles:

10 things you should know about heel pain

A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is one of Sydney’s leading foot and ankle clinics. Principal podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Dr Brenden Brown (AKA Dr Foot) has been taking care of people’s feet for more than 20 years.

With a background in sports medicine and having served as a former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Brenden is a wealth of information when it comes to foot and ankle care.

Got a question? Check out our Instagram profile #AskDrFoot 

Or, tune into our Facebook page for regular live videos and updates on the latest foot and ankle advice from the experts.

10 things you should know about heel pain

10 things you should know about heel pain

10 things you should know about heel pain - 1

10 things you should know about heel pain

Heel pain is common but that doesn’t make it any less painful or less frustrating to live with. While the causes of heel pain can vary, the most popular culprit is a condition called plantar fasciitis (also referred to as heel pain and runner’s heel).

There are many cases of misunderstood heel pain—either because a proper diagnosis hasn’t been sought or the incorrect information has been given out. With a myriad of myths circulating about heel pain, it’s essential to get the right advice.

10 things you should know about heel pain

Bruising isn’t always the cause

“Heel pain is commonly linked to a bruised heel; but in fact an over-stretching of the fibrous tissue in the foot causes plantar fasciitis. It can also be incorrectly diagnosed as heel spurs or achilles tendonitis,” says podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care Dr Brenden Brown.

Rest is not the best treatment

Rather than seeking professional help, many people suffering from heel pain will ignore their condition—hoping rest and time will cure it. If left untreated plantar fasciitis can last years.

Ignoring heel pain can lead to other health concerns

Untreated plantar fasciitis can further aggravate the foot, resulting in increased swelling. It can also lead to other medical problems affecting the hips, back and knees.

10 things you should know about heel pain - 2

Barefoot is not best

Going barefoot might seem like the natural thing to do but walking around without shoes puts additional strain on the plantar fascia—particularly first thing in the morning, when the muscles and tissues are tight.

Cushioning offers comfort but not a cure

People commonly opt for a foam or silicone heel cushioning as a treatment for heel pain. Yes, this might provide some temporary comfort, but it won’t cure the condition.

Not all orthotics are equal

Hard, rigid orthotics are not only uncomfortable, they will do nothing for your foot pain. They might actually cause you more pain. Soft pliable orthotics are designed to support the foot while allowing the natural movement. However, orthotics alone won’t heel your feet pain. Talk to one of our podiatrist about the best orthotics and the different therapies that can help rehabilitate damaged tissue.

Fancy footwear isn’t always the answer

Thongs, trendy trainers or even fancy footwear with special arches won’t cure heel pain. Yet choice of shoe is important. A shoe that has a firm shell and a small amount of structured cushioning works best. The shoe should NEVER bend in the middle. Before heading out to pick up a new pair of shoes, chat to one of our podiatrists to get the right advice—as well as a detailed solution that includes other treatment options.

Injections aren’t the only option

Cortisone injections can be painful and evidence suggests they don’t work. In fact, one study showed that 3 months after having a cortisone injection more than 55% of people had the same pain. Another study revealed that injections of saline and cortisone both gave exactly the same result!

Heel pain can be prevented

Prevention is always the best cure and there are a number of ways to help ward off heel pain including:

  • Maintaining a healthy weight
  • Stretching before exercising and wearing appropriate footwear with supportive heels and shock-absorbent soles
  • Avoiding wearing ill-fitting and second-hand shoes
  • Avoiding going barefoot

Plantar fasciitis can be cured

The first step towards treatment should be a proper diagnosis from a podiatrist. The best approach to heel pain should be a multi-pronged plan that might include orthotics, professional advice and therapy, such as shockwave treatment.

To find out more about plantar fasciitis visit: heelpaindoctor.com.au or to obtain a diagnosis contact A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care today.

A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is one of Sydney’s leading foot and ankle clinics. Principal podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Dr Brenden Brown (AKA Dr Foot) has been taking care of people’s feet for more than 20 years. With a background in sports medicine and having served as a former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Brenden is a wealth of information when it comes to foot and ankle care.

You might also be interested in our Facebook live sessions:

5 Myths about heel pain

6 reasons your heel pain is NOT getting better

Strength exercises to beat and prevent heel pain

Or head over to Coach Nine to hear what else Dr Brenden has to say about heel pain.