Below you’ll find information regarding the symptoms, treatment and prevention of Sever’s Syndrome, a foot condition in children resulting in pain around the heel of the foot.
Sever’s Syndrome CAUSE:
- Growth plate inflammation on the back and the bottom of heel in children between 8 and 14.years of age
- Seen in active children who often go barefoot
- Poor foot posture such as low arch or extremely high arch feet causes overload of the heel
- May occur during growth spurts
Sever’s Syndrome SYMPTOMS:
- Pain to the heel bone at the end of an activity.
- Occasionally painful to the Achilles tendon
- Stiffness after sitting and getting up to walk
- Limping after sitting and getting up to walk, particularly after completion of athletic or exercise activity
Sever’s Syndrome SIGNS:
- No evidence of redness or swelling
- Usually associated with tight lower extremity muscles
- Tenderness to press the area of the growth plate (area is demonstrated on picture below)
Sever’s Syndrome TREATMENT:
- Rest
- Ice
- Custom molded prescription orthotics (shoe inserts) to support poor foot posture(low arch or high arch feet)
- Heel lifts in the early stages of treatment to help decrease the pull of the tight calf muscle and Achilles tendon
- Stretching exercises to help stretch the tight calf muscles
- Physical Therapy Modalities to help reduce the inflammation
- Night splinting to prevent tightness or low grade spasm of the calf muscles while sleeping
In severe cases, cast immobilization to allow the area to rest completely.