What is Severs disease of the heel bone?

Heel pain is regarded as the most frequent causes of symptoms in the foot. The most frequent source of pain in the heel in adults is plantar fasciitis and the commonest explanation for heel pain in youngsters is a disorder called Sever’s disease. Sever’s disease is the condition of the growth region at the rear of the heel bone that is primarily frequent in youngsters that are physically active and largely causes pain at the back of the heel bone. As the condition is related to the development with the bone tissue, the condition vanishes entirely on it's own as soon as the growth in this bone has finished. It can be nonetheless, painful and also restrict the physical activity of the youngster therefore it nonetheless really needs to be managed to help that pain even though they will ultimately grow out of the Sever's disease. The key to managing Sever's disease is decreasing physical exercise and other activity amounts down to an amount that the symptoms in the heel bone is tolerable. It is usually challenging to have youngsters to comply with this.

One other strategy is to use heel pads for Severs disease. These kinds of Severs disease heel pads come in several different types and some may have no impact. The reasoning under pinning the pad is that the pad need to cushion the impacts of the heel on the floor plus they need to lift the heel up to ensure the stress from the Achilles tendon on the back with the heel. Too often the padding which might be used don't obtain those purposes. For instance a cushioning material could feel rather soft between the fingertips when you feel the padding, however when your fingers may well compress the insert, then it's most likely to do nothing at all under the feet because the weight of the youngster would easily flatten the pad. These types of padding will do nothing to cushion the impacts on the floor or reduce the tension with the Achilles tendon. Along at the opposite end of the range is a padding that is too hard that will act on reducing the pull from the Achilles tendon and definitely will do nothing to cushion the impact forces. The best material for this will be a trade off to obtain the two goals. It must be hard enough to help reduce that strain from the Achilles tendon and not too firm that it can not necessarily cushion the impact forces from the ground. The heel pad can also differ based on the weight of the child, with the heavier child necessitating a firmer insert that they do not compress. Often the most commonly used padding for this Severs heel padding can be a firm silicone gel type padding. The more pliable gel padding materials are actually too soft for this and are quickly flattened. Often a good running shoe will do this and many actually have a silicon gel material beneath the heel built in to them. This could also be found in several football shoes. Numerous clinicians might use an EVA type of padding that is a good option for the silicon gel kind of materials.

How do you treat Severs disease?

Severs disease is the common name for a condition called calcaneal apophysitis. It really shouldn't be termed Severs “disease” as it is not a disease. This is a self limiting condition of the growth plate in the heel bone of kids which always goes away by itself sooner or later without having long term complications. This is a quite frequent ailment in children about ages 10 to 12 years and if you question a group of children of that age should they have it or have an acquaintance who has had it, then most of them probably will say yes. There exists a growth plate behind the heel bone where growth of that heel bone happens at. The achilles tendon connects to this growth area, so it is just not difficult to see that plenty of force is put on the growing area, especially if the child is overweight or active in sports activity. The ailment is a overuse of that growing region. The growing area combines with the rest of the heel bone by the early teenage years, therefore it is just not feasible for it to become a problem past that.

Whilst the Severs disease is self-limiting and they will outgrow this, it is painful and can cause discomfort so will need to be managed. The best approach is to focus on education concerning the condition and the ways to deal with activity loads to keep it manageable. It is common to use ice on the heel after sport to help settle the pain. Cushioned gel heel pads are often good and might make it more bearable to allow them to continue with activity. If you can find biomechanical problems, then proper foot orthotics may be needed to improve that. The main element of the management of Severs disease is simply managing the loads. Kids of that age want to be active and be a part of sport, so this might be a problem.