| Abstract: | From 1973 t0 1983, 900 cases of painful heel
were treated with traditional Chinese medicine and
western medicine, which consisted of local steroid
injections, herb medicine and acupuncture. 650 cases
were cured by the conservative methods. 250 cases
which had been treated with the same method for
more than half a year without response were group-
ed as persistent painful heels. Of them, 52 cases
were treated with drilling operation which was
effective in most of the cases. In only a small num
ber of cases the etiology was clearly due to trauma,
extreme obesity or theumatoid periostitis. In the
majority, causes of the disease were unclear and the
condition was considered idiopathic. X-ray films
of the os calcis were taken for the 250 persistent cases
and calcaneal spurs were observed in 229 cases.
However, further analysis revealed no direct relation-
ship between the spurs and the heel pain. |
