Heel spurs aren’t just a fashionable accessory to go with your cowboy boots. Many people with heel spurs don’t even know they have them, but sometimes they can be very painful. In the medical world, heel spurs are calcium deposits that build up in response to excessive stress on the bottoms of the feet.
Having high arches, flat feet or excessive pronation can cause plantar fasciitis, which is when tiny tears form in the thick bands of tissue on the bottoms of the feet. Excessive pronation is when the feet tilt outward when in motion, so the interior arch is slightly raised. With enough repetitive trauma, calcium will start to accumulate at the back of the heel or under the sole of the foot. This is where heel spurs come from.
The only sure way to get rid of heel spurs is surgery, which is usually a last resort. Often, people are able to manage their symptoms with some physical therapy techniques and lifestyle adjustments. NSAID pain relievers, therapeutic stretching, foot orthotics, night splints and immobilization with a boot can all help reduce pain from heel spurs.
For those with heel spurs, certain types of exercise can help you rehabilitate and relieve your pain. Keep reading to learn about exercising with heel spurs and seven strategies we recommend for keeping your pain to a minimum.
How should I exercise with heel spurs?
High-impact activities like running and walking are likely to aggravate your pain, so it’s best to avoid those at first. However, other forms of exercise can help with the healing process. Low-impact cardiovascular exercise is important during the earliest stages of healing because it increases blood flow, bringing nutrients to the area and helping your body reabsorb scar tissue. Stretching your feet will help mobilize stiff muscle fibers and restore your range of motion. Strengthening exercises will help improve your load tolerance so you can return to higher-impact activities. If your heel spurs are causing a lot of pain, you should talk with a physical therapist before starting an exercise regimen.
7 ways you can exercise more comfortably with heel spurs
As your body gets used to your heel spurs and you build up your resilience, exercise will likely become less painful. Start with a bit of stretching every day, and gradually increase your activity as you’re able to tolerate more movement. Just don’t push yourself to exercise when it hurts. If a particular activity causes you pain, you should stop and rest.
Try the following strategies to help reduce your pain while exercising with heel spurs:
- Choose low-impact cardiovascular exercise — When running puts too much strain on your heel spurs, try another form of exercise with lower impact. Swimming and cycling are great for cardio. If these are too painful, stick to stretching and yoga.
- Wear supportive shoes or foot orthotics — You should always wear athletic shoes with good support when you’re exercising unless you’re swimming or doing yoga. If you’re prone to plantar fasciitis or excessive pronation, you may need some extra support in the arches. Ask your physical therapist if they recommend any specific footwear or orthotics.
- Stretch out your feet — Stretching exercises are especially important for recovering from heel spurs. Stretch out your calves and the bottoms of your feet every day, making gradual increases. Flex your toes backward, curl them forward and try the downward dog yoga pose to start with, holding each stretch for 10 to 15 seconds. When you’re able to do some low-impact cardio, stretch out your feet and your calves before and after you exercise.
- Strengthen the muscles in your feet and lower legs — Strengthening the muscles in your feet, calves and shins will increase the amount of weight your feet will tolerate and your endurance. Start with calf raises, lifting yourself up onto your toes in a standing position and lowering back down slowly for about 15 reps. You can also try foot flexion exercises with a resistance band.
- Improve your balance and hip strength — If your hips or ankles aren’t very strong, your feet could be doing some extra work to keep you balanced. Add some exercises to your routine that strengthen your core, glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps. Focus on seated exercises where you raise your legs up off the floor to strengthen your quadriceps. Do lunges and raise your knees to your chest to work on your hip flexors and hamstrings.
- Massage the bottoms of your feet — Yes, a foot massage can help relieve pain from heel spurs! Use a tennis ball to massage the bottoms of your feet against the floor. Then use your hands or get a partner to help you get a more even massage across your entire foot.
- See a physical therapist — Aggravating your heel spurs with exercise can make your condition worse. If you’re in a lot of pain or if your pain doesn’t subside with rest and gentle stretching, you should see a physical therapist. Your PT can do a physical examination and recommend the best treatments and exercises for your condition.
How can physical therapy help with heel spurs?
We see a lot of patients with heel spurs from working on their feet all day or playing a sport that’s hard on their heels. You may not feel like you have much time for rest and recovery. However, pushing through the pain will only make your recovery time longer. There may be treatments that can help reduce your pain in the meantime and speed up the healing process. This is our specialty at Peak Performance.
Each new patient receives a thorough assessment, and we create a multiphase exercise plan that’s customized to help relieve your unique symptoms. Your physical therapist can also recommend lifestyle modifications to help you care for your feet.
For plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, your therapist will use treatments like these:
- Manual therapy — These are techniques your PT performs during your appointment using gentle touch and kneading-like movements. Manual therapy involves joint and tissue mobilization, which help restore movement and range of motion while reducing pain.
- Myofascial release — Myofascial release is a type of manual therapy that focuses on trigger points. These are like “knots” of concentrated tension in the fascia, the fibrous tissue that covers your musculoskeletal structures. Your PT will apply gentle, targeted pressure to help your body relax and release pressure in trigger points.
- Therapeutic stretching and exercise — Your PT will guide you through exercises chosen specifically to help you heal. You’ll learn exercises for different phases of healing, from recovery to rehabilitation and long-term wellness.
- Sport-specific therapy — If you have heel spurs from playing a particular sport, your Peak Performance physical therapist can help you create a plan to rehabilitate and prevent them from coming back in the long term.
- Work rehab — We provide physical therapy treatments that are specific to workers’ compensation injuries. We help with functional capacity evaluations to create a plan for returning to work, and we have a work conditioning program for people with physically demanding jobs.
- Gait training — Pain from heel spurs can throw off the way you walk, which is called your “gait” in physical therapy speak. Compensating for foot pain can cause problems in your joints or soft tissue in other parts of your body. Your PT may use gait training principles to help you maintain your balance and an even stride as you get used to heel spurs.
Avoiding activities that hurt your heel spurs isn’t a long-term strategy for pain management. At Peak Performance, we want to help you reduce your pain as much as possible and help you become more resilient. Our PTs use a wide range of treatments to help our patients feel better sooner so they can get back to living their lives. Many of our patients see relief after their first visit.
Ready to find out how physical therapy can help relieve pain from your heel spurs? Call us or request an appointment today.
Our Locations
FAQ
Conditions Library