Severs Disease

Calcaneal Apophysitis (Severs Disease)

It’s that time of year again! Junior sport is back. Goodbye slow Saturday mornings and hello double shot coffees, sunscreen and water bottles!

The return to sport for the year is certainly a highlight for a lot of families but it can often also mean the return (but not always) of tired and sore little bodies. If your child has complained of sore heels or appears to be limping after they have been running around or playing sport, they may have a common, age-related heel pain condition called Calcaneal Apophysitis. This condition is better known as Severs Disease.

Severs is the most common cause of posterior heel pain in active, growing children between the ages of 7-15yrs old

Often described as a bruising 'pulling pain', the condition is caused by repetitive micro-trauma to the growth plate (apophysis) of the heel bone (calcaneus), hence the term Calcaneal Apophysitis. The microtrauma is caused by the very strong achilles tendon which provides the attachment of the calf muscles onto the heel bone.

Once diagnosed through a biomechanical assessment, there are several treatments that are very effective at treating the pain. Shoe changes, rest, icing after activity and the use of heel raises temporarily in the shoe are all possible treatments that patients respond to positively. This allows your child to be back on the sporting field in no time.

Whilst this condition can be quite debilitating, once treatment has commenced, we find most patients recover between 1-3 months (pending on severity of the case).