Plantar calcaneal spur

Plantar calcaneal spurs, or sometimes simply referred to as calcaneal spurs, are a commonly seen finding in radiology practice.

Epidemiology

Plantar calcaneal spurs tend to usually occur in older men and women and may be related to obesity, osteoarthritis and current or previous heel pain. 

Pathology

Plantar calcaneal spurs are thought to be a result of enthesophytic changes involving the origin of the plantar aponeurosis ⁵. Their exact pathophysiology is not well understood but many theories have been proposed ^2-4.

Very rarely, plantar calcaneal spurs can fracture ¹⁰.

Associations

• plantar fasciitis ⁶

• adductor digiti minimi atrophy ¹

• reactive arthritis (often ill-defined) ⁸

• psoriatic arthritis ⁹

Radiographic features

Classically seen on plain radiographs, CT and MRI as a bony spur on the sagittal image projecting inferomedially from the calcaneus.

History and etymology

Osseous spurring of the plantar aspect of the calcaneus was first documented in 1900 by the German physician P Plettner, who coined the term Kalkaneussporn (calcaneal spur) ⁷.