Heel Pain In Children

Heel Pain In Children

Is your child complaining of heel pain?

What is it?

If your child is aged between 8 and 15 the most common cause of heel pain is Sever’s disease. Before you panic it is nothing to be overly concerned about, it is fairly common especially is your child is very active and enjoys playing sports such as rugby, football and hockey.

Sever’s Disease:

Sever’s disease is an inflammatory condition that effects the growth plate in the heel bone (calcaneus). It is also known in the medical world as calcaneal apophysitis and it typically effects active growing children between the ages of 9 and 15.

What causes heel pain?

It is often seen as an overuse injury caused by repetitive stress to the heel bone and by overuse in the attaching tendons. Clinically over the past few years, we have seen this condition becoming more and more common. Often when I speak to the youngsters who suffer they can name at least another one or two of their teammates with the same problem. With boot design being very low profile and the increase of synthetic surface use, it seems to be a condition on the rise.

What can I do?

Growth is generally a stressful time for youngsters – bones tend to grow faster than the surrounding muscle and tendons leaving you prone to tightness in the soft tissue. Throw in increased activity and a very low heel drop in a boot and you have a recipe for increased stress to the growth plate and consequent heel pain.

• Look at footwear used and try and get boots, trainers or shoes with a better heel drop and cushioning. The only boots I am aware of with a bigger heel drop are Asics boots with the hg10mm technology.
• Moderate activity and try and give plenty of rest between games/training
• Stretching the calf and Achilles tendon

What can we do to help?

So as Podiatrists we are trained to assess the mechanics of the lower limb and if necessary use orthotic therapy to address any underlying issues. Orthoses can be designed for very specific footwear or for broad use across many shoes.

The combination of addressing any underlying issues with foot mechanics and making some simple changes to your management of the condition seems to have a great positive effect on the discomfort experienced.

If your child is suffering from heel pain get in touch and we’ll see how we can help.