• July 8, 2021

How to deal with Sever’s Disease of the Heel

Heel pain in children is actually very common. You will find there's condition which impacts the back of heel bone in kids called Sever’s disease that plenty of youngsters are affected by it. This is a growth zone problem, so for this reason this is an issue that the kid is going to outgrow ultimately. It is important to understand or know that this isn't a "disease", but the term is something that has stuck so it is nevertheless widely used. The better right name is calcaneal apophysitis. There exists a growth zone (the apophysis) at the rear of the heel bone in which growth happens, therefore the problem is an injury with that growth plate. This problem commonly affects kids around the ages of about 9-13 years of age, with some occuring outside those age ranges. Once growth in this calcaneus bone is done about the mid- teenage life, then Sever’s disease is no longer a concern or an issue.

Detecting Severs disease is invariably easy and is dependant upon the ages of the youngster as well as the symptoms. There is next to nothing which can be seen on xrays or other radiology, so these are typically useless to get a examination. The symptoms are typically worse with exercise. The pain sensation is mostly at the posterior aspect of the heel bone and is a lot more uncomfortable when you press the side on the heel bone. The signs and symptoms do frequently are likely to go up and down from week to week. The explanation for Sever’s disease is just too much overuse, so it is more common in kids that are more sporty or have a weightier weight since this basically puts even more load to the calcaneus bone and overloads the heel bone. Should the surface that the youngster plays sports on is harder, this may be a risk factor. Some think that restricted leg muscles can also be a concern, but other experts don't think that it's a concern.

The management of Severs disease is generally just decreasing the physical exercise levels until the pain improve. Physical activity levels should be dictated by the level of symptoms there is and dealing with that. When the pain is getting improved, then activity amounts may be higher. In case the pain is getting worse then exercise levels should really be lessened. Therefore the child and parents really need to be informed about the self-limiting nature of this problem and the ways to manage the loads to maintain the symptoms in check over time. The most popular strategy for Sever's disease is usually a cushioning heel pad which cushions the heel by hard impacts on to the ground in addition to with the force from the Achilles tendon. When the discomfort is particularly bad, then taping may be used to restrict motion and ice could be used to help with the pain following exercise. If the feet are especially flat or overpronated, then foot supports are occasionally used to help this together with the heel pain. The largest problem may be to persuade that youngster to decrease activities if the symptoms are getting worse since the natural instinct is to be being as active as much as the can.

Alisa Saucedo

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