Heel Pain in Children

Heel Pain in Children

One of the most common causes of heel pain in children or adolescents is a condition called Sever’s Disease, often also referred to as growing pains.

Sever’s disease is an insertional apophysitis which is a tendon condition where the Achilles tendon meets the calcaneum or heel bone. When children have a growth spurt, often the bone grows faster than the muscle/tendon complex and pulls at the insertion. The Achilles complex is a long functional unit starting from above the knee and terminating at the end of the first metatarsal. It involves many different types of structures including muscle, tendon, fascia and bone.

Some of the risk factors contributing to Sever’s in children include:

• Growth spurt
• Tight calves and hamstrings
• Football boots
• Poor school footwear or joggers
• Poor lacing of shoes
• Thongs and flip flops
• History of ankle injury that reduces ankle range
• Poor balance

Often our Physios can get the parents to assist in the treatment of Sever’s to allow the child to continue to play sport whilst recovering. Other causes of heel pain in children include a fat pad bruise, bursitis, Achilles strain, impingement and plantar fasciopathy. Many of these conditions share risk factors.

At Paddington Physiotherapy we attempt to fix the footwear and the individual biomechanics prior to considering Orthotics as often the child will be in a high growth phase. If addressed early, the child or adolescent can recover faster and develop good habits to prevent further occurrences.