Heel spurs?

I feel pretty confident responding to this. You almost certainly have plantar fasciitis, which is when your plantar fascia is swollen and tearing away from the heel. The plantar fascia is the connective tissue that holds the front of your foot attached to the back of your foot and creates your arch. When it starts to tear away from the heel you get the x-ray you've displayed (I know because mine looked just like that). The "cloudy gunk" is scar tissue from the damage, and the bone spur is your heel bone trying to grow out far enough to reattach. According to the podiatrist I got all this from, doctors used to think that the spurs themselves were the cause of the problem, and do surgery to remove them. Better imagery has taught them that the spurs are a symptom and not painful in and of themselves. What hurts is the connective tissue at the tear.

The good news is that this is totally correctable, the bad news is it'll take a while. If your pain is like mine was, it hurts most first thing in the morning, or after you've been sitting or laying down for a while. Once you're moving, it gets better (though it still hurts), and ironically it hurts least of all when you've been running or waking for a while. This is because the connective tissue stretches out after a bit of movement, and stops pulling on the injured portion.

There area number of over the counter ways to treat this condition. You can get splints or special socks that keep your feet at a 90 degree angle while you sleep. My doctor didn't like these, and felt they were counter productive, but lots of people report relief from them and studies on the matter are mixed. If you stretch your calves (and by extension your feet and heels) before you get out of bed, it can help a lot with the initial "OMFG, the first ten steps are blinding agony" that you see when you first get out of bed. It'll still hurt, but it'll feel more like it does later in the day. Most importantly you want to get arch supporting inserts for your shoes. Wear these especially while running, but preferably in all of your shoes. I use Power Step insoles, but any brand with lots of support should work. These run around $50 a pair. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) like Aspirin are a big help.

A doctor will probably prescribe more powerful prescription NSAIDs and custom orthotics. The latter are a lot more expensive than off the shelf orthotics ($450 a pair was the quote I got), and my doctor didn't think they were much more effective than the off the self variety. He gave me a prescription for them if I wanted them, but told me to give the off the shelf once a bit first. They turned out to be fine.

With orthotics you don't have to stop running, though you should probably reduce your mileage and it may slow healing a bit. I stopped for a couple of weeks until the pain got more manageable, then started up again at lower mileage wearing my orthotics. Other people I know never stopped completely at all. It'll take a few months for the pain to go completely away regardless, and continuing running won't add much time to this.

ETA: I'm still not a doctor and you still shouldn't consider this medical advice... I feel pretty confident I'm right, but that isn't the same as perfectly confident.

Yep....plantar fasciitis. Painful and it sucks! I finally had to have surgery to fix mine. I did orthotics, stretching, etc. and it all helped for awhile but mine was too far gone when I finally went to the podiatrist. I found that taping my foot helped alot and you can find videos online to show you the correct way to tape. Good luck!

But the doc had ruled out plantar fascitis, simple because of the location of the pain. He figured it was some sort of achilles tendonitis at the time - didn't even mention the heel spur on the sole of the foot - but said nothing about being able to fix it.

they all are sort of related. I have also had achilles tendonitis (due to a severe ankle sprain I think). More than likely the sock/boot will help any of them. I would be wary of orthotics. they are a huge investment and your feet change over time. often a store bought insole is a better more temporary option. those normally run about 40 bucks and if you need a different level of support in 4 months, you can just buy another $40 pair.

Wow! Thanks for the great info...I have been having some foot pain too! I am looking up those insoles now!

OMG I am sooo happy to read this post. I have had this issue for a couple weeks now. I have been rolling my heel over a frozen bottle of water after each run & before I go to sleep. I ordered some heel cups on Amazon & I am hoping they will help. It is not hurting to the point of being in agony, but it is definitely sore in the mornings and an hour or so after my runs. I do not want to stop running because I am halfway through half marathon training.

take it from someone who had to have surgery to get the bone off the back of the heel, detatch the achilles tendon and now has it on the other foot - get rid of the vibrams - get back into a heel lift shoe - I loved my minimalist shoes also - not worth the pain or the now possibility of another surgery - I had surgery over a year ago, and still have problems with that achilles tendon - trust me, not worth it

I am being irrationally resistant to buying new shoes. I wear Vibram fivefingers and I haven't been able to bear having "real" shoes since I got used to them.

Even the tennis shoe - which used to fit me great, mind you - that I'm wearing to offset the height of my boot puts my foot to sleep and I have to take it off when I'm not actually walking.

I have great, great disdain for athletic shoes...

...but I'll try not to let that get in the way of healing myself :grumble:

Um..think these might be related?

In those you have no heel lift which causes your calf muscle and achilles to stretch and work overtime.

I think you need a second opinion.

You know I didn't even look at where your spur was, just saw the location of the scar tissue looking stuff, and read your description. I still think you may have minor plantar fasciitis from the location of the front scar tissue (which is in the right place); but after reading some of the other comments and looking closer, I guess your Achilles tendon is doing the same thing on the back of your heel. Hence the rearward bone spur. Ouch dude... I don't think I want your foot.

My exrays looked a lot like yours. The pain increased steadily for about a year. I tried very expensive inserts my podiatrist custom made, stretching as the PT recommended, higher heels, an inexpensive band that fit over my arch and a steroid shot.

The stretching made the pain worse. The steroid shot was a miracle for 3 months. The pain came screaming back immediately after the shot wore off because I'd been using (abusing) my foot that whole time and aggravating the injury there.

In my case, the pain DID go away. It took about 15-18 months. I think the arch bands and higher heels did the most to help my situation.

Good luck. I hope you get relief soon!

The spur on my right foot was right in the middle of the heel and on the back of it. The one I have now on my left heel is on the bottom, but more to the outside of the heel.

Ha, ha. The doc said about the one I had removed from my wrist that I probably injured it by hitting something with my wrist and it then grew the spur.