Heel pain in children (Severs disease)

[hans kraay fan club]

Anyone know much about this? One of your kids suffered with it, perhaps?

Any tips for managing it?

Cheers folks

 

[cloud]

Not quite the same, but my son has Talipes in his foot/leg.

We have been using osteopathy and homeopathy to cope with the pain and discomfort, since his NHS treatment pretty much ended when he came out of splints aged 4

 

[Questions]

I had that as a kid. It's agony when it is at its worse. No football when its bad Hansy and make sure their shoes don't rub and irritate their heels. It was a couple of months for me and I had to go in goal for a while.
Oh and stick their feet in a bowl of cold water with some ice in it when the inflammation gets really bad.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I had that as a kid. It's agony when it is at its worse. No football when its bad Hansy and make sure their shoes don't rub and irritate their heels. It was a couple of months for me and I had to go in goal for a while.

That's just it. He has 3 football trainings (went in goal today!) and one match, each week, and still wants to miss as little as possible. We've put cushioned pads in all his shoes, and we ice it when it's sore. NHS site gives some stretching exercises that are supposed to help long term. Hopefully they will.

 

[piersa]

Anyone know much about this? One of your kids suffered with it, perhaps?

Any tips for managing it?

Cheers folks

treated it on several occassions. How old is he?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

treated it on several occassions. How old is he?

He's 12. It's in one heel. Been sore for about a month.

 

[Clive Walker's slaphead]

My son had this around the age 11-13 and could barely walk at times. It's all to do with them growing so fast that the bones don't grow as fast as the muscles or vice versa. No point in going to a GP. Took him to sportswise in Eastbourne which deals in sports injuries and the guy there assessed him and gave him stretches to do three times a day. Although it partly helped he was too far gone with it and when we went back he had acupuncture which cleared it straight away. It came back exactly a year later and when I took him back to sportswise they gave him accupuncture there and then and it again cleared up. Since then his body obviously sorted itself out as it never came back. Think that kids that do sport are more likely to suffer from it than those that don't.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

My son had this around the age 11-13 and could barely walk at times. It's all to do with them growing so fast that the bones don't grow as fast as the muscles or vice versa. No point in going to a GP. Took him to sportswise in Eastbourne which deals in sports injuries and the guy there assessed him and gave him stretches to do three times a day. Although it partly helped he was too far gone with it and when we went back he had acupuncture which cleared it straight away. It came back exactly a year later and when I took him back to sportswise they gave him accupuncture there and then and it again cleared up. Since then his body obviously sorted itself out as it never came back. Think that kids that do sport are more likely to suffer from it than those that don't.

Thanks. Something else to look into.

 

[The Truth]

Anyone know much about this? One of your kids suffered with it, perhaps?

Any tips for managing it?

Cheers folks

I am someone who's suffered from seveers disease. It was very painful on my heels after sports. The GP told me the pain was growing pain so I as a teenager took the advice to rest not to seriously. As i was a mad on sports as a youngster I stupidly carried on playing through the pain. Eventually the pain went from my heels. a few years later when i was playing a football match I noticed the inside of my right knee feeling uncomfortable. My knee would lock up when left in any position for too long when sitting. I went to the doctors and they x-rayed my knee. A massive chunk of the knee had completely worn off. I had key hole surgery where they pinned the bone back to the knee but it wasn't successful. I've been told i can never do sport again and my knee injury is incurable.
It turns out that the severs disease caused my knee injury becuase of playing through the pain when in my teens.
My best advice is to rest and don't do any sport until the pain had completely gone. If you ignore the issue in your heels, you are risking losing your knee and the greatness of participating in sport. It's a lot more serious than it sounds. My surgeon was called DR turner, he did operations for brighton and hove Albion too. He thinks stem cell research will be my only hope. Severs disease is serious and can ruin your life if ignored. Good luck and i hope this helps.

 

[Kumquat]

I had it at the same age and the doctor just told me not to play any sport and gave me cushioned pads for the shoe. It came and went after that for a while and then disappeared.

 

[Charles 'Charley' Charles]

My son has it, and coupled with another condition he suffers with means he can only do either training, or play matches, he can't cope with both. Even then he can be on crutches in the afternoon and evening. his physiotherapist at GOSH has had some special orthoptic insoles made which has helped to a degree. Feel free to pm me if you want any more info.

 

[Cuffs]

When I was little I had a problem which sounds very similar. The only relief I remember was that I wore welly boots everywhere. I looked silly but it did the job by way of releiving the pain. I am thirty eight now and refuse to wear them. Best of luck

 

[BigGully]

Anyone know much about this? One of your kids suffered with it, perhaps?

Any tips for managing it?

Cheers folks

I am guessing there are degree's of it and it look's like your boy's is prompted by sport as mine was.

His heel would quite spontaneously become sore and effect his movement, but sometimes would become ok just as quick as it initially hurt !!

He was playing quite alot on astro turf and we assume this might have been a cause.

We assumed it was severs but a similar condition effects the plantar fascia, so I was never too sure which one it definitely was, as fortunately it hadn't become chronic.

The general conclusion is that any irregular pain at your Son's age is likely to be associated to growing pains and stretching and modifying his activities over the medium term may help this.

My experience that the pain in many of these conditions can go as quickly as the started, ultimately his pain will dictate his approach to his sports.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Oh my god... I used to have this, I never realised it was actually a 'thing'. After P.E my heels would be in such pain, it would hurt to just walk. It felt like the heel was coming away from the foot, it was disgusting. The worst thing was that I thought it was normal - I would tell me PE teacher and parents and they said there was nothing they could do and to "get on with it", looking back I'm a bit pissed off. It onset at about 13 and it went away on its own after time, get it sorted though, it's horrible to live with (especially if your kid is active).

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Oh my god... I used to have this, I never realised it was actually a 'thing'. After P.E my heels would be in such pain, it would hurt to just walk. It felt like the heel was coming away from the foot, it was disgusting. The worst thing was that I thought it was normal - I would tell me PE teacher and parents and they said there was nothing they could do and to "get on with it", looking back I'm a bit pissed off. It onset at about 13 and it went away on its own after time, get it sorted though, it's horrible to live with (especially if your kid is active).

Yes. This is almost certainly what you suffered with: Sever's Disease

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I am someone who's suffered from seveers disease. It was very painful on my heels after sports. The GP told me the pain was growing pain so I as a teenager took the advice to rest not to seriously. As i was a mad on sports as a youngster I stupidly carried on playing through the pain. Eventually the pain went from my heels. a few years later when i was playing a football match I noticed the inside of my right knee feeling uncomfortable. My knee would lock up when left in any position for too long when sitting. I went to the doctors and they x-rayed my knee. A massive chunk of the knee had completely worn off. I had key hole surgery where they pinned the bone back to the knee but it wasn't successful. I've been told i can never do sport again and my knee injury is incurable.
It turns out that the severs disease caused my knee injury becuase of playing through the pain when in my teens.
My best advice is to rest and don't do any sport until the pain had completely gone. If you ignore the issue in your heels, you are risking losing your knee and the greatness of participating in sport. It's a lot more serious than it sounds. My surgeon was called DR turner, he did operations for brighton and hove Albion too. He thinks stem cell research will be my only hope. Severs disease is serious and can ruin your life if ignored. Good luck and i hope this helps.

Thanks. I'd imagine your further issues might possibly have been unrelated. I've read up fairly extensively on this and have seen no references to anything like it.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

My son has it, and coupled with another condition he suffers with means he can only do either training, or play matches, he can't cope with both. Even then he can be on crutches in the afternoon and evening. his physiotherapist at GOSH has had some special orthoptic insoles made which has helped to a degree. Feel free to pm me if you want any more info.

Thanks. He's just using shop-bought cushioned pads at the moment. If it persists for any great length of time, I guess we'll take him to the GP, and see where that takes us.

I am guessing there are degree's of it and it look's like your boy's is prompted by sport as mine was.

His heel would quite spontaneously become sore and effect his movement, but sometimes would become ok just as quick as it initially hurt !!

He was playing quite alot on astro turf and we assume this might have been a cause.

We assumed it was severs but a similar condition effects the plantar fascia, so I was never too sure which one it definitely was, as fortunately it hadn't become chronic.

The general conclusion is that any irregular pain at your Son's age is likely to be associated to growing pains and stretching and modifying his activities over the medium term may help this.

My experience that the pain in many of these conditions can go as quickly as the started, ultimately his pain will dictate his approach to his sports.

Thanks BG. I agree, there are clearly degrees, and his seems less serious than some mentioned here. I think you are right about the Astro, too. He trains with the school once a week, and with his club once on a hard sand-based astro, then Saturdays on a softer 3G pitch. Dropping the midweek club one for a while probably makes sense. Better than being too sore to play the Sunday matches.

 

[The Truth]

Thanks. I'd imagine your further issues might possibly have been unrelated. I've read up fairly extensively on this and have seen no references to anything like it.

http://www.kingsleyphysio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=192

'Physiotherapy can generally manage SD and aim to have patients return to full sporting activity within 2-4 weeks. Although there is thought to be no long-term problems associated with SD, many of the biomechanical foot deformities that are commonly seen in SD sufferers can predispose adults to other foot, shin and knee problems later in life. Your physiotherapist will discuss the need for ongoing orthotic use (beyond the termination of symptoms) if this is deemed necessary.'

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks. I'd imagine your further issues might possibly have been unrelated. I've read up fairly extensively on this and have seen no references to anything like it.

http://www.kingsleyphysio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=192

'Physiotherapy can generally manage SD and aim to have patients return to full sporting activity within 2-4 weeks. Although there is thought to be no long-term problems associated with SD, many of the biomechanical foot deformities that are commonly seen in SD sufferers can predispose adults to other foot, shin and knee problems later in life. Your physiotherapist will discuss the need for ongoing orthotic use (beyond the termination of symptoms) if this is deemed necessary.'

 

[hans kraay fan club]

http://www.kingsleyphysio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=192

'Physiotherapy can generally manage SD and aim to have patients return to full sporting activity within 2-4 weeks. Although there is thought to be no long-term problems associated with SD, many of the biomechanical foot deformities that are commonly seen in SD sufferers can predispose adults to other foot, shin and knee problems later in life. Your physiotherapist will discuss the need for ongoing orthotic use (beyond the termination of symptoms) if this is deemed necessary.'

- - - Updated - - -



http://www.kingsleyphysio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=192

'Physiotherapy can generally manage SD and aim to have patients return to full sporting activity within 2-4 weeks. Although there is thought to be no long-term problems associated with SD, many of the biomechanical foot deformities that are commonly seen in SD sufferers can predispose adults to other foot, shin and knee problems later in life. Your physiotherapist will discuss the need for ongoing orthotic use (beyond the termination of symptoms) if this is deemed necessary.'

Fair enough. We'll certainly be monitoring it closely. Cheers

 

[Clive Walker's slaphead]

Personally I wouldn't bother with the Gp if I was you - ours diagnosed tendonitus (SP?) which he told us how to treat. When I told the guy at sportswise he laughed and said it's nothing like that and just rest won't cure it. Basically the muscles in the calf become so knotted and pull on the heel where they are so tight that it needs something to release those knots.