Heel spurs
Heel spur surgery is sometimes the last resort for many heel spur suffers, and is usually only considered after other (conservative) treatment options have been used without success. However, in cases where surgery does prove necessary, it is usually successful.
As with any surgical procedure, heel spur surgery carries risks that the patient must be aware of before agreeing to the procedure. For example, there can be damage to nerve tissue during the procedure that could cause numbing afterwards in various areas around the heel. In rare cases, heel pain may persist after surgery, although in most cases pain usually diminishes after about a week.
Treating foot pain with heel spur surgery can be done in a couple different ways.
Endoscopic plantar fasciotomy is the first way to eliminate pain. In this procedure two slits are made around the heel, which allows the surgeon to see the injured area using a small camera. He then detaches, or cuts, the plantar fascia ligament from the heel bone, relieving stress and pain and allowing new fascia tissue to develop in the space that was created. With this procedure, the tension that created plantar fasciitis or heel spurs is eliminated.
In other procedures the entire plantar fascia may not be cut. Instead, only a portion of the ligament is detached. Some surgeons feel that this procedure is not as effective as endoscopic plantar fasciotomy, while others think that it has better results. In addition to these heel spur surgical procedures, the surgeon may also decide to remove the spur itself. This can seriously reduce occurrences of pain in the heel since it prevents the tissue around the heel from being damaged further by the bone fragment.
