Morphometric Analysis of Calcaneal (Heel) Spurs in Ancient and Modern Anatolian Populations

Heel spurs are the bony protrusion seen especially on the dorsal and plantar face of the calcaneus bone at the attachment site of the muscles. It was aimed herein to obtain data about the life styles, daily lives, and especially the socioeconomic structures of modern and ancient Anatolian populations by evaluating the prevalence, location, age, and gender differences of heel spurs on the calcaneus and comparing these findings between the populations. Herein, the 251 calcaneus bones of 137 skeletons, which had been previously analyzed paleodemographically and dated to the Middle Ages, and 68 calcaneus bones belonging to a modern population, whose gender was unknown but lived in Anatolia, were examined in terms of heel spurs. In the current study, the presence of dorsal, plantar, or both dorsal/plantar heel spurs on these in 251 calcaneus bones was 43.9 %, 11.1 %, and 10.3 %, respectively. The presence of dorsal, plantar, or both dorsal/plantar heel spurs was determined as 22 %, 3 %, and 1.5 %, respectively, among the 68 calcaneus bones belonging to the modern population. When a comparison was made of the current study with studies in the literature on modern and prehistoric populations, a higher prevalence of heel spurs was found in prehistoric samples than in modern populations. It is our belief that this situation may have derived from the heavy labor force, environmental, or sociocultural differences in ancient Anatolian populations, insufficiency of vital materials due to inadequate industrial conditions, and the solution of anatomical disruption. In addition, the findings determined herein will guide the development of future and industrial studies on the foot and foot structure.