Overview
Sever's disease is the most common cause of heel pain in the growing child. It is due to overuse and repetitive stress of the Achilles tendon where it attaches to the heel bone. Causes Sever's Disease is a repetitive strain injury caused by the following. High impact injury activities and sport like netball, football, soccer, hockey, basketball, running, jumping and tennis. Tight calf muscles. Poor mechanics, structure and function of the foot. Excessive pronation. Rapid growth spurt. The above causes tension, inflammation and pain where the Achilles tendon inserts onto the calcaneus (Back/bottom surface of the heel bone). It is important that this problem is treated and monitored until the growth plate ossifies in the heel. This could occur between the ages of 14 and 16 years of age. In extreme cases the growth plate can become separated from the calcaneus. Symptoms The typical patient is a child between 10 and 13 years of age, complaining of pain in one or both heels with running and walking. The pain is localized to the point of the heel where the tendo-achilles inserts into the calcaneus (heel bone), and is tender to deep pressure at that site. Walking on his toes relieves the pain. Diagnosis Sever?s disease can be diagnosed based on your history and symptoms. Clinically, your physiotherapist will perform a "squeeze test" and some other tests to confirm the diagnosis. Some children suffer Sever?s disease even though they do less exercise than other. This indicates that it is not just training volume that is at play. Foot and leg biomechanics are a predisposing factor. The main factors thought to predispose a child to Sever?s disease include a decrease in ankle dorsiflexion, abnormal hind foot motion eg overpronation or supination, tight calf muscles, excessive weight-bearing activities eg running. Non Surgical Treatment Sever disease is heel pain in children. This pain is caused by inflammation of the heel growth plate. The growth plate is the area where the bone grows. It is located on the lower back part of the heel. Exercise Exercises that help to stretch the calf muscles and hamstrings are effective at treating Sever's disease. An exercise known as foot curling, in which the foot is pointed away from the body, then curled toward the body in order to help stretch the muscles, has also proven to be very effective at treating Sever's disease. The curling exercise should be done in sets of 10 or 20 repetitions, and repeated several times throughout the day. |
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