Sever's Disease may cause heel pain in children - Podiatrist Ryan Marshall, Singapore Podiatry

Hi guys. Ryan Marshall here. Australian podiatrist with East Coast Podiatry in Singapore. Today we’re going to be talking about a condition called Sever's Disease. Otherwise known as Calcaneal Apophysitis. Which is the most common cause of heel pain in children.

What Is Sever's Disease? So, the condition is a bone injury in which the growth plate at the lower part of the heel becomes inflamed and painful. What causes this condition? So as the bones are growing at a quicker rate than the tendons and the muscles. There are forces that are placed throughout the Achilles tendon. Over time that repetitive stress results in damage to the growth plate which brings about the inflammation and then the associated pain.

Who is at risk of developing Sever's Disease? Sever's Disease is most commonly seen in children that are doing a lot of sporting activities. So, with that, it occurs in periods of growth spurts which is seen in adolescents. In females, the most common age to see Severs Disease is between the ages of eight to thirteen years and in males, it is ten to fifteen years of age. As the growth plate closes and the bone hardens the symptoms are not apparent which is why it is not often seen in older teenagers or adolescents.

What are the symptoms of Severs Disease? Severs Disease will be seen as pain localized to the back of either one or both heels. We are usually seeing patients report of pain during and post activity. Which means they are normally not able to walk or they have a limp. We also see pain upon first weight-bearing in the morning with stiffness within the ankles and quite often we can see redness and swelling localized to the heel. So what is involved in the diagnosis of Severs Disease? When attending to a podiatrist. The podiatrist will attain a clinical history as well as perform a physical examination. We also use diagnostic ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis as well as rule out any other conditions.

Treating Sever's Disease

Once we have an accurate diagnosis, we are then able to formulate a treatment plan for the child. So that means it can be treated conservatively without the need for surgical intervention. We initially address the patient’s activity levels and then also address strengthening as well as stretching activities of the soft tissue structures. We also need to address the child’s biomechanics. The way that we do that is through the use of a customized foot orthotic to reduce the repetitive force that is placed on the growth plate.

What we focus on in the clinic is being able to reduce the patient’s pain levels and return them to their activities as quickly as possible. The way that we are able to do that non-invasively in the clinic is through the use of extracorporeal magnetic transduction therapy or more simply EMTT. The biggest benefit of EMTT is that it is a painless treatment but then allows us to reduce the symptoms which are, of course, the pain, the inflammation and the swelling. When treating Sever's Disease our main goal of treatment is to manage the pain as well as reduce any further injury.

With that is very successful in reducing the symptoms for patients. As we address the symptoms it means that patients are then able to return to performing their activities but at this point pain-free. If your child has been experiencing any pain at one or both of the heels during or post activity. I would suggest making an appointment with your podiatrist to have it assessed and then we can formulate a management plan from there. Thank you guys very much for listening today and I’m looking forward to speaking and seeing you soon. Take care.

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EAST COAST PODIATRY ( ECPC )
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www.EastCoastPodiatry.sg | email: services@ecpc.sg

Clinic Locations:

Orchard Clinic
302 Orchard Road . Tong Building #09-02 . Singapore 238862
Tel: (+65) 6884 4123

Kembangan Clinic
18 Jalan Masjid . Kembangan Plaza # B1-02/04/05 . Singapore 418944
Tel: (+65) 6848 5156

Novena Clinic
10 Sinaran Drive . Novena Medical Center #08-12/13 . Singapore 307506
Tel: (+65) 6235 2132

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