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Severs Disease-sports oriented

(3 discussions)

my 10 year old has severs disease and she is very active in soccer. She has heel cups in her soccer shoes and orthodics in her tennis shoes. I have seen a podiatrist but he is no help when it comes to sports shoes etc.
I need to know any advise on how to prevent the pain. any suggestions on the best heel cups for running? She does not want to quit playing sports and that seems to be the only suggestions we are getting from Dr.s.
PLEASE HELP.


3 comments

    Vivian Abrams DPM

    9 10

    Unfortunately,
    Severs disease or calcaneal apophysitis is an inflammation or overuse syndrome of the growth plate of the heel bone (calcaneus). There is no substitue for rest. It is sometimes difficult as a parent to say no to our children, but I think this might be one of those times that you act in your child’s best interest. I do not know that there is an ideal athletic shoe out there. I do not agree with giving a child large amounts of anti-inflammatory medicines just so they can participate in sports. I realize this is not what you want to hear. Just becaause you take your child from doctor to doctor doesn’t mean that they will have something magic for you. Sorry.

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    9 10

    DR. ABRAMS,My 11 y.o. son plays soccer. He is experiencing alot of pain in his heel area after practices and games. I believe he has Sever’s Disease. Many parents we have talked to have tried heel cups and some have seen a Podiatrist or Ortho Surg. to have special casts made to wear. What do you recommend we do? We’ve been icing his heels after sports activity and given him Motrin. We tried some Dr.Scholl’s heel cups, but I don’t think they’ve helped much. We want to have him seen by a Podiatrist, but it takes a while before we can get an appointment. What do you think about the Quag heel inserts? Thanks, Bob

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    9 10

    my daughter also was diagnosed with severs. she has now turned 10 but last spring near the end of track season she developed the problem. being active in coaching I noticed the prolem occured after running on hard surfaces, and one particular track practice where a coach had her do 5 100m sprints in a row. the problem is over coaching where there is no need. unfortunately after a few months off in summer and no pain on starting training, she suddenly again has one sore heel, now the opposite heel from the spring, again, the soccer coach has been conducting 2 practices a week for 1.5 hours, quite a bit over coaching, instead of just light running as was promised obviously alot of running was taking place. In the spring, taping of the foot was done to let her participate in the final track meet but she still felt pain after running full out. I think the only cure once the problem occurs is rest. I’ve researched alot of sites and found that there is no magic instant cure for this condition, I would recommend against using pain killers because if theres no pain the damage can increase and the condition could lead to serious conditions from my research.As I mentioned after rest the condition went away, but now she has the other heel aggravated from over use. I have tried to purchase shoes with heel support, raised heel like good running shoes, but track spikes and especially soccer shoes do not come with much support even if advertised.From our experience in the spring of 2012,I noticed the condition would slowly get worse, even when the foot and heel were taped, and no activity occured for a few days, once she ran her first heat, she had minor pain, gradually increasing over the day.we might just point her into swimming until she has grown so that this condition does not keep reaccuring.

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