Heel Pain

[Hadsbee]

14 year old DD has been diagnosed with Calcaneal Apophisitis. Has anyone experienced this? She seems to have pain regardless if she's dancing or not. She ices regularly and is going to PT. The clock is ticking, as she's supposed to go to SI in a few weeks.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Hadsbee

[Victoria Leigh]

Hadsbee, has she seen an orthopedic doctor? Do you have a diagnosis? "Heel pain" is not very specific...where exactly is the pain, in the heel itself, like on the bottom of the foot, or the bones on the back of heel, or in the Achilles tendon, or somewhere else in the ankle area?

[Hadsbee]

Victoria, I just edited my post. I had already posted the first sentence in the "topic description", but I guess that doesn't show up. Yes, she's seen 3 Doctors. The orthopedic ordered an MRI to rule out stress fracture and ankle impingement. The sports medicine internist has her doing Pilates Physical Therapy, and thinks she doesn't need an MRI. The 1st Doctor to diagnose her was her pediatrician, who said she thought it was achilles tendonitis and to stop dancing. The orth. & sports medicine Dr's diagnosed her with C.A. Still waiting for approval for the MRI.

[Victoria Leigh]

Thank you, Hadsbee. I'm very glad that she has a diagnosis, although I have no knowledge of that diagnosis, so am unable to respond. I certainly hope that it is something that will heal quickly. Keep us informed.

[dancemaven]

A quick internet search reveals that it is also known as 'Severs disease' and is similar to the Osgood-Schlatter's Disease of the knees that teens often suffer.

 

Hopefully, the orthopod you are working with is familar with dancers and pointe.

[Thyme]

in answer to your original questions Hadsbee, yes we have had periodic bouts of Severs disease with 14yo DS. My understanding of it is that the growth plates are being put under excessive strain and perhaps become inflamed.

It passes is all I can say. We were just instructed by his physiotherapist in how to tape DS's foot to minimise the strain. Havent done it yet but it makes sense that this would help. Otherwise it is ice and rest when it occurs. Our male principal says that he had this problem as a young man to the point where it fractured but he overcame it and had a 10 year career. So I guess it isn't a death blow but is very inconvenient!

[Mitzubachi]

My daughter had Severs disease at 9 from soccer. She put heel lifts in her shoes 24/7, iced her heels every night, and stretched the Achilles well before a game. She out grew it after 10. From the research I did back then, it happens most often in girl athletes around the age of 9-10.

[Thyme]

just an update on taping with Sever's. It has worked marvellously for DS. We tape his foot before long dance sessions and he has had no pain since we started.

[Mathilde]

My DD had this. Gel pads, that you can purchase in a drugstore, helped a lot. She wore them continuously in her street shoes. Also, she continued to dance, but didn't do PE at school, while this was flaring.

[LizDancer]

My DD had severs for 1.5 years and is just now getting better. Better defined as minimal pain that occurs occasionally. She used the gel heel cups, ice massage (dixie cups to freeze ice, then massage with the ice until numb), stretches provided by the ortho to stretch out the tendon, and ibuprofen. These were all recommended by the orthopedic doctor and or physical therapist. She continues the stretches to this day. We also used an over the counter product that we use for muscle and tendon soreness, Penetrex.

[momster]

although I still can't pronounce it, all 3 of my children suffered tremendously from this. My son the longest as he was a slow grower ( 5 years ), second daughter about 3 years, and the third only about 2 years. luckily she is the dancer and dancing did not bother her much. it was running and jumping in middle school track and BB that hurt her the most. In each child I was told it occurs most in narrow boney heels and they will outgrow. Just manage the pain as best you can and do not worry about the pain making the problem worse. In other words it is just up to the child as to how much pain they can tolerate. The gel heel pads did help my son, there was a better than drugstore version available from doctor (of course considerably more expensive).

 

Unfortunately now that she is grown, my DD now 16 has just been diagosed with a posterior ankle impingment with bone nuggets that will continue to cause pain unless removed surgically. The ankle impingement only came to be once she was almost fully grown as the ankle/heel area closed up.