Heel spur

Hello, my 78 yr old father has had an ongoing problem with pain in the heel of his feet for the past few months. Unfortunately, it is getting worse and to the stage that he cant sleep at night with the pain. He went to a podiatrist and he said it was a heel spur and he made inserts for his shoes. Also he has been taking glucosamine tablets thinking these might assist. He also gets some pain in his knees. He finds that the inserts that were made for his shoes are very hard and aggravate the pain in the heel. He gets a burning pain along the underneath part of his foot by the end of the day and cannot stand on the foot due to the pain. He also suffers from gout and is taking medication for this, as he has a high uric acid level in the blood.
Is there anything else he can do to try to relieve the pain and also is this a lifelong condition?
Thankyou

[Yena H Do, DPM]

it sounds like he may have a nerve entrapment that is causing his heel pain.  I would try physical therapy which can help alleviate pain (ultrasound, iontophoresis).  he should obtain a nerve conduction study to see if the nerve is entrapped and causing his pain.