Heel pain in kids.
Reports of aches and pain from kids are common.
Heel pain is a common complaint from kids between the ages of 8-14 and there’s a chance it might be Calcaneal Apophysitis.
What is Calcaneal Apophysitis?
Calcaneal Apophysitis (commonly known as Sever’s) is inflammation of the growth plate. It is located in the posterior/back of the calcaneus bone (the heel). It occurs between the 8-14 year old age range as this is typically when there’s activity in the calcaneal (heel bone) growth plate.
What are the symptoms of Calcaneal Apophysitis?
Calcaneal Apophysitis typically presents with the following symptoms:
Pain around the heel bone
Increased heel pain during or after activity
Limping
Walking on toes and/or not wanting to put pressure on heels
What are the causes of Calcaneal Apophysitis?
The causes of Calcaneal Apophysitis can be due to increased involvement in running, jumping, hopping and change of direction based activities. This is because it can increase the load through the calf muscles and subsequently the growth plate at the heel.
What can help in the recovery from Calcaneal Apophysitis?
Calcaneal Apophysitis is a self limiting condition, which means symptoms will reduce and return to zero, once the growth plate becomes less active. But, it can be quite a challenging condition for kids, as it commonly can impact on participation in sports and activities.
If symptoms are impacting on sports and activities, there’s ways that we can help!
At Foot & Ankle, we like to focus on three main areas to improve symptoms from Calcaneal Apophysitis: load management, capacity improvement, pain modification.
Here’s how we plan management:
Load management:
Activity modification (reduce provocative load such as running sports)
Reduce barefoot time for 2-4 weeks
Taping
Short term heel raise or orthotic use (12-16 weeks)
Capacity Improvement:
Improve calf capacity including jumping and hopping ability
Ensure appropriate recovery between sports
Pain modification
Heat / ice therapy to manage symptoms
Anti-inflammatories (as per recommendations from Pharmacy or GP)
Symptoms can improve quickly with the right plan! If you need help managing Calcaneal Apophysitis, we are here to help!