Heel Pain’s a Real Pain, But Prolotherapy Can Help!
When you’ve been practicing medicine in Virginia for over 23 years, you learn a thing or two about common ailments. Here at Clifton Foot & Ankle Center, we’ve seen it all, which means we frequently encounter one of our patients’ most common complaints: Heel pain.
We’ve always strived to keep our patients informed with the most up-to-date information, providing knowledge tools that cover a variety of podiatry concerns. With that commitment in mind, we’ve put together a brief primer on heel pain, how it works, and some exciting new options concerning pain management.
Heel pain seriously impacts your daily routine. To make matters worse, it comes in several varieties:
- Heel spurs: A bone growth caused by strain or tearing.
- Plantar fasciitis: The plantar fascia is a thick segment of tissue along the bottom of the foot, with overuse, its fibers tear, causing inflammation and pain.
- Achilles tendonitis: Inflammation of the Achilles tendon that connects your calf muscle to the heel bone.
- Arthritis: Rheumatoid arthritis and gout inflict serious pain in the heel area.
Heel pain might be an old problem, but fortunately, there are new solutions, particularly in pain management. For this post, we’d like to focus on two exciting and effective new options: prolotherapy and PRP injections.
What’s PRP?
- Platelet Rich Plasma therapy is a revolutionary method for managing musculoskeletal pain.
- It augments one of your body’s most potent healing tools: platelet cells, the hardworking bloodstream components that appear when an injury requires repair.
- We run a small sample of your blood through a centrifuge to separate the platelets.
- The concentrated result is safely and painlessly injected near the heel injury, drawing the attention of stem cells, boosting recovery, and alleviating pain.
What About Prolotherapy?
- These injections use a concentrated sugar solution and anesthetics to treat minor irritation and inflammation near a heel injury.
- Your body responds by growing new ligament and tendon fibers, strengthening and healing the harmed area.
As you can see, some modern methods are making heel pain old news! For healthier heels, make an appointment with Dr. Wilhelm at our office in Centreville, Virginia. Call (703) 996-3000 or contact us online today!
