What is Sever’s Disease of the Heel Bone in Children?
Severs disease is the common name for a condition which should be termed calcaneal apophysitis. It truly should not be referred to as Severs “disease” because it is not a disease. This is a self limiting problem of the growth plate in the heel bone of children which always disappears altogether on its own eventually with no long term issues. This is a quite frequent ailment in kids close to ages 10 to 12 years and in the event you question a number of kids of that age should they have it or have an acquaintance who may have had it, then the majority of them will probably say yes. There exists a growth plate at the rear of the heel bone in which growth of that bone occurs at. The achilles tendon attaches to this growth area, therefore its not hard to note that lots of force is put on that growing area, particularly if the child is overweight or active in sports activity. The condition is a strain of that growing area. The growing area combines with the rest of the heel bone by the early teenage years, so it is just not possible for it to become a problem past that.
Whilst the condition of Sever’s disease is self-limiting and they will grow out of this, it is painful and can cause distress so will should be managed. The ideal strategy is to start with education with regards to the disorder and how to manage activity loads to keep it in check. It is common to use ice on it after sport to help settle the pain. Cushioned gel heel pads are frequently useful and might make it more tolerable to allow them to continue with exercise. If you can find biomechanical problems, then appropriate foot supports may be required to correct that. The most crucial aspect of the treatment of Sever’s disease is just managing the loads. Children of that age want to be active and engage in sport, so this could be a problem.