Tawanda Phuma

The Foot Ailments Database

Bursitis Of The Foot Remedy

Overview

Achilles bursitis is one of those injuries that can really bring down the quality of your life. Anyone, young or old, can suffer from this injury, and if you're active this condition will keep you from doing the things you love to do. It will even start interrupting any of your normal daily tasks and make living life harder than it really needs to be. Fortunately for you, professional athletes have had access to state of the art treatment therapies for years that allow them to heal more quickly and completely than you or I. This is why athletes that have a serious heel bursitis injury can often get back in the game in a matter of weeks while you could suffer for months or even years (in chronic cases).

Causes

Inflammation of the bursa causes synovial cells to multiply and thereby increases collagen formation and fluid production. A more permeable capillary membrane allows entrance of high protein fluid. The bursal lining may be replaced by granulation tissue followed by fibrous tissue. The bursa becomes filled with fluid, which is often rich in fibrin, and the fluid can become hemorrhagic. One study suggests that this process may be mediated by cytokines, metalloproteases, and cyclooxygenases.

Symptoms

Where the tendon joins the calcaneal bone, friction can cause the spaces between the tendon, bone and skin to swell and inflame with bursitis. This constitutes a calcaneal bursa. Apart from swelling over the back of the heel, you?ll feel acute tenderness and pain when you move it or even apply light pressure. Your swollen heel may look more red than the other one, and the swelling is often so hard it can feel like bone, partly because it sometimes is, as a bony overgrowth can occur in chronic cases.

Diagnosis

Your health care provider will take a history to find out if you have symptoms of retrocalcaneal bursitis. Examining your ankle can find the location of the pain. The physician will look for tenderness and redness in the back of the heel. The pain may be worse when the doctor bends the ankle upward (dorsiflex). Or, the pain may be worse when you rise on your toes. You will not usually need imaging studies such as x-ray and MRI at first. If the first treatment does not improve the symptoms, your health care provider may recommend these tests. MRI may show inflammation.

Non Surgical Treatment

Most patients with achilles and retrocalcaneal bursitis heal well with appropriate physiotherapy and other usual bursitis conventional and natural cures being administered. Specific treatments for ankle / heel bursitis may include footwear correction. Get well-fitting, soft-backed (or even open-backed whenever possible) shoes for both day to day wear and exercise. High-heels should really be a no no or worn sparingly, ladies. Heel protectors. Heel pads and heel lifts are great simple solutions to cushion and protect the Achilles area from the irritation of the shoes. Orthotics. There are various orthotic devices out there (some only available over-the-counter). One example is a custom arch suppport. These can control abnormal motion in your feet by lining them up correctly in your shoes to help you move in the right matter so the bursitis heals faster and does not return back again. Exercise modification Stretch your heel, mainly Achilles tendon, frequently, particularly before and after excercise or prolonged sitting. If you are a jogger, try to run on softer surfaces (no hard concrete, please). Running uphill training is best to be avoided by Achilles and retrocalcaneal bursitis sufferers.

Surgical Treatment

Surgery. Though rare, particularly challenging cases of retrocalcaneal bursitis might warrant a bursectomy, in which the troublesome bursa is removed from the back of the ankle. Surgery can be effective, but operating on this boney area can cause complications, such as trouble with skin healing at the incision site. In addition to removing the bursa, a doctor may use the surgery to treat another condition associated with the retrocalcaneal bursitis. For example, a surgeon may remove a sliver of bone from the back of the heel to alter foot mechanics and reduce future friction. Any bone spurs located where the Achilles attaches to the heel may also be removed. Regardless of the conservative treatment that is provided, it is important to wait until all pain and swelling around the back of the heel is gone before resuming activities. This may take several weeks. Once symptoms are gone, a patient may make a gradual return to his or her activity level before their bursitis symptoms began. Returning to activities that cause friction or stress on the bursa before it is healed will likely cause bursitis symptoms to flare up again.

Prevention

Protect that part of the body that may be most vulnerable, If you have to kneel a lot, get some knee pads. Elbow braces can protect tennis and golf players. If you are an athlete or avid walker, invest in some good walking or running shoes. When doing repetitive tasks have breaks. Apart from taking regular breaks, try varying your movements so that you are using different parts of your body. Warm up before exercise. Before any type of vigorous exercise you should warm up for at least 5 to 10 minutes. The warm up could include walking at a good speed, slow jogging, or a cycling machine. Strong muscles add extra protection to the area. If you strengthen the muscles in the area where you had bursitis (after you are better), especially the area around the joint, you will have extra protection from injury. Make sure you do this well after your bursitis has gone completely.