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December 12, 2005

Can Treadmill Cause Heel Spur?

My first Monday morning client presented with pain in the low back, glutes, hamstring, left knee and right ankle due to "breaking in" an orthotic device. The massage was unextraordinary in that I manipulated those areas for relief of pain due to a change in gait.

The client was prescribed the orthotic because they suffer from three conditions (likely related). The first is plantar fasciitis, which I have blogged about before. The second is a heel spur. And, finally, pronation.

My client asked if I had heard about the use of treadmills causing or aggravating heel spurs, so I decided to look into the matter. Here is what I found in the New York Daily News:
One of the types of exercise that has been a real problem is the treadmill. As people begin to elevate the treadmill in order to increase their heart rates, it increases the stretch on the plantar fascial ligament. It's not natural to walk uphill all of the time. So if they are going to elevate the treadmill for periods of time, they should also lower it back down for a while.

Posted by linda at December 12, 2005 12:20 PM