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Heel bone spur

Heel bone spur


Annoying, irritating, sometimes unbearable when walking: here is how pain caused by heel bone spur can be. It is an exostosis, i.e. a bone excrescence in the heel bone area, where the feet longitudinal ligament insertion is.

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When an area of the body is suffering, people usually think that the cause of the pain is exactly where the pain has “suddenly” appeared. As a consequence, many act on that area trying different approaches, from anti-inflammatory drugs, to laser therapy, blast waves, tecar therapy, etc.

The posturological approach considers the painful area as a “victim” of a postural imbalance (unless there was a direct trauma in that area). It is therefore necessary to investigate all traumatic-disruptive  events happened in the patient’s life that can be responsible for such postural alteration and the appearance of the pain.

Heel bone spur has to do with the feet, the only element in contact with the ground, equipped with motoric and sensory component; it conforms to any perturbation coming from the upper body districts.

It is easy and interesting to verify what has just been said: standing with joined feet, listen to the weight distribution on your feet.

Then try to:

·         Stiffen/ put head and neck ahead or behind and listen to how the weight distribution on your feet

·         Stiffen/put ahead or behind a shoulder…

·         Slightly move the trunk on one side…

·         If you want to listen and understand deeply how the weight distribution changes in presence of a minimal postural alteration, than slow down your breath and diaphragm action, and always paying attention to the weight distribution on the feet try to move your eyes and tongue on one side…
Feet are always “tuned”!

Try to perceive how feet behave when walking with your head inclined at  45° and/or keeping your eyes closed: feet become an even more careful tool of investigation/exploration of the ground, dynamic and efficient in being ready to compensate any perturbation and/or minimal postural imbalance they run across.

Our feet, a unique masterpiece of biomechanics (26 bones, 33 joints, 114 ligaments, 20 muscles), interact with visual function and vestibule and are connected to the rest of the body thanks to myofascial chains; therefore they adapt to teeth, eyes, vestibule, viscera, skin imbalances (scars), etc.

The pelvis plays an important role: it “absorbs” and “sorts” ascending and descending tensive strenghts. First of all, it tries to “soften” these tensions in order to limit their migration upwards or downwards to protect the main receptors (vestibular, auditive, visual, and podalic receptors). However, this activity is also the cause of the alteration of its physiological balance and anatomic simmetries. Thanks to the compensations that can be generated by the complex joints it is made of, in the future it will be responsible for various problems in its area or in other close or distant areas of the body.

“Any compensation created in the present will inevitably cause a problem in the future” (D. Raggi)

Its symmetric or asymmetric structure is therefore fundamental for transmitting the tensions along the lower limbs up to the feet.

Asymmetries of the pelvis that can always be observed in case of postural alteration (due to an old trauma at the pelvis or coming from ascendant or descendant problems) can reflect, through myofascial chains, up to the feet. They alter their support to the ground causing overloads on the joints, involving one or more musculoskeletal components of the feet, heel bone included.

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Heel bone spur must be considered in a wider view, too.

In a global approach, as for any other articular musculoskeletal problem, it is necessary to consider the person’s unique “time-line” (chronicle of disruptive events such as physical and emotional traumas, occlusion, swallowing, visceral problems, scars, etc.), clinical static, dynamic, and instrumental tests which can help finding the cause.
Raggi Method
Ò does not act directly on heel bone spur problem (effect) but looks for the cause/s and creates intervention protocols adapted to the patient’s postural condition.

No fixed protocol!

The Method works through various effective non-compensated postures combined with a particular technical breathing.
Such postures aim to stretch and rebalance the hypertone of the chains that are responsible for the exostosis appeared on the heel bone. It is also important to consider the proprioceptive functional aspect of the feet and of every ring/district/area involved in the antalgic adaptation.  

Session after session, the patient experiences a reduction of the pain, a recovery of elasticity and mobility that resulted reduced due to the pain, a reduced waste of energy in carrying out everyday activities and sports.
Professor Roberto Bono