I have them. Foot Dr. made inserts for my shoes. It is a matter of keeping the heel at a slightly higher level than the ball of your foot. At least in my case it was. It takes the weight off your heel, and the heel spur.
Leslie

I get them. Therapy--stand on the bottom step and face the upward direction of the steps. Hold on to the railing, stand on the balls of your feet and drop the heels down toward the floor or the step below. Hold it a few minutes and do this every day till they go away.

I've got one growing out of the bottom of my foot that looks like the point of a pencil (about 1.5" long!).

If you're having that much trouble, I'd strongly recommend going to a woman podiatrist. There are a number of things that can help--in my case, I got away with a prescription med for about 6 weeks, daily exercises, and wearing the shoes my pod. recommended. Even when my spurs and Plantar Fasciitis act up (the 2 can be related), putting on a pair of Clarks gives me a lot of relief. In extreme cases, you might need a cortisone shot, but don't wait that long before seeing the dr. And I think a woman dr. is important in this specialty because they understand women's shoes (and fashion) much better than a guy would.

Don't forget--if your pod. recommends a particular brand of shoes for your foot condition, get her to write them on a prescription blank and you can take them as a medical expense when you do your taxes. At the price of Clarks and New Balance (the only shoes I'm supposed to wear now), that's a help.

Hope you get relief soon. Know how uncomfortable that can be.

I have them in both feet and I am under Doctor's care. So, far I cannot work and I have gotten
two shots of cortisone shots in the left foot. I did get inserts from the Doctor at $45.00 a pair
but I am waiting to hear from his receptionist about other type of inserts that my insurance has
to approve to pay for. The worst time for me is when I get up in the morning and if I have been sitting
for a long length of time then I go to stand up. The exercise described above does help for a temporary time.
Take care and if you are still bothered I would get them checked out.
Keep us posted.
Deb

I had one on my right heel many years ago. When I finally went to an Orthopedic Doc, he had me lie on my stomach and he injected something, I don't remember now what it was, maybe cortisone, into the heel. He told me before he started the procedure, that it would be very painful, because he had to find the exact spot. He was right, It was extremely painful, but it worked. I have never had a reoccurance, or needed special shoes or inserts.

Good luck in finding the right doctor.

Sue

My brother needed a cortisone shot, but I had one and it went away, or at least the pain did, on it's own.

Thanks!!!! I will try out the exercises and I hope that helps before it gets worse.
I was reading on the net about these and it says that they can form in the shoulder too. About 3 yrs ago I had surgery on my shoulder. The dr never called it a spur(i don't think) but he described it as a hook on the end of my shoulder that they ended up shaving down to keep the pressure off my rotator cuff.

I'm still in the midst of my second bout of plantar fasciitis which has been with me more than a year. I just don't want a cortisone shot (I'm a big baby,) so I finally found some shoes that have been by far, the biggest help. Clarks, New Balance, Berkinstock arch supports, none of these did the job. These are Z-Coil and I bought them because I spoke to a friend of a friend when I saw them on his feet. He had such luck with them when he was faced with surgery that I gave them a try. The sandals were fantastic and the tennis shoes have been good, though in the last couple of weeks my heels are hurting a bit. I don't know if I'll have to eventually have to pursue the shots, but for now I'll take the shoes, as they allow me to take walks and stand for long periods of time again. I also find that stretching my feet (toes toward leg,) before getting out of bed helps those first painful steps in the morning. Good luck!

You may have plantar fasciitis, like sjerin described. It is not a heel spur.

Plantar fasciitis is very painful, but you can deal with it with stretching excercises and the proper footwear - never go barefoot. I always wear Croc's in the house and my other shoes are quality shoes. Inserts, etc. did not help, and actually made my feet hurt worse. I bought a good quality tennis shoe and replaced them every 6 months.

Google "plantar fasciitis" and you will find the technique for the excercises.

It took over a year for mine to heal. I also took anti-inflamitories - but check with your doctor about taking those long term. I used Advil.

But plantar fasciitis and heel spurs can go hand in hand. Having a heel spur can 'spur' (sorry about the pun) PF.

One thing I probably should mention. When I was diagnosed and first treated, dr. gave me a bunch of exercises. The only one that DIDN'T help and made my condition much more painful was that step thing. The other exercises were extremely helpful, though--so check in with your podiatrist and see what he/she recommends.

I have them on both feet but my spurs are on the back of my heel, not on the bottom...I didn't know you could get them there....I have to watch what kind of shoe I wear, hopefully nothing that is too tight...The doc did recommend the shots but I've gone that route before and would rather hold off as long as I can...These things are no fun!

I thought I had a heel spur on the right, but come to find out, I don't. The Pod. took xrays of both feet and I don't have them. So, I guess I was dealing with the Plantar Fasciitis all along, mainly on the right.

Azzalea, what exercises are you doing that seem to help other than the step stretch? I have bought the Niki Air Max 360 II and it seems to be the only shoe I can stay on my feet with other than my Clarks. I even wear my Croc thongs in the shower now. I won't go barefoot anywhere or stand on hard tile without a shoe on.

I did get the cortisone shot in the right heel and it stopped the aching immediately. It lasted for about 3 or 4 days then it started aching again, but not as bad. I do take some Aleve if it's worse on some days. But I probably need to do the exercises.

My podiatrist gave me a whole pamphlet. It's a little difficult to explain all of them in detail, without diagrams, but I'll try.

Heel stretches. Stand by a wall, hands on the wall, leaning into it on an angle, one foot ahead of the other. First lean toward the wall, with your back leg straight. Curl your toes. Release (I'd do this about 30 times each foot). Then lean forward, but bend your knee as far as possible, curl toes, release.

Sitting down, pick up a towel with your toes--again, I did this about 30 times or so for each foot. Pick up marbles with your toes. Keep a soda can in the fridge (label it so no one drinks out of it--LOL), and then spend some time rolling it with your foot.

Those are the ones that pop immediately to mind--but I used to spend about an hour doing the whole drill each night. Really helped. Haven't had to do them for more than a few days here and there since.

I had one on my shoulder, but they removed it when they repaired a tear. It hurt, but I would think the heel spurs are worse.