Severs Disease - any experiences?

[Starlilly88]

My DD has has Severs Disease for the last couple of months but only recently found out what it was. Doctor just said to do stretches to loosen up the muscles on the backs of her legs, no other suggestions.
She is in pain doing her usual clubs and activities so what else can we do to ease the symptoms? Should she rest as much as possible?

Rest was the only thing that really helped my ds. He did the stretches and we got him some custom made insoles because even walking was agony for him. It's much better now, at 14, but the pain was so bad at points he asked me if I could get his feet amputated. Poor soul.

Has she tried the frozen bottle of water to roll her heels on? Lots of the plantar fascitits remedies can take the immediate pain away.

Sympathies for her.

My now 18 year old daughter suffered with this and was referred to an NHS physiotherapist. She was given crutches, prescribed ibuprofen and given various exercises to do. It took a while to go and in the end, she attended a pain management session to help cope with residual pain towards the end. Her school has LOTS of stairs but helpfully, they rearranged classes for her. It really wasn't nice & I felt awful as I spent the first couple of months telling her to stop moaning before I finally took her to the GP. 😕

My 11 year old DD has this. She was referred to a physiotherapist. Stretches are the main solution and also rest. DD did not give up any activities but she knew that, in order to continue them, she had to do the stretches properly, rest when her heel hurt too much and also wear sensible supportive shoes. She likes to wear slip-on school shoes but these do not provide enough support. So when her heel is painful she is allowed to wear trainers at school. She also has gel heel cups in them (you can buy them at Sports Direct).
DD dances competitively and when the Severs was at its worst I taped her heel with KT tape to give support and put gel heels in her tap shoes.

DD had Severs, still sometimes reoccurs after a growth spurt. She's very active and wanted to keep up with various activities. She had a combination of physio, strict rules on shoes (small heel and good ankle support) absolutely no ballerinas, and also specially made insoles (not shop bought). We also had a battle with school over letting her wear trainers until the pain receded. You need to get your GP to refer you to specialists, insist. It's extraordinarily painful and rest is often recommended, but this isn't very helpful if you've got an active DC who can't sit still. Good luck.

Thanks for your replies. DD does gym and ballet, as well as a lot of sport at school. Not sure whether to stop the clubs as it got better over Easter. Her pain is moderate most of the time so she can still walk. Might have to try some of the shoe inserts and think about the physio