Severs Disease

[duzzlightyearsmum]

Anyone else’s child been diagnosed with this? What helped? How long did they suffer with pain from it?

DD9 was told she probably has this after a trauma to her feet. That was in April and she is still suffering regularly now. We are off to Disney next week and quite concerned about the walking and her pain levels!

any tips for managing it? Would you go back to the GP?

Have you looked into assistance at Disney? I think you can apply online and then do a video call with them to explain her needs. Hopefully you can arrange to borrow a wheelchair and use the disabled entrances so you can minimise walking.

DS had Severs, it lasted some years ( I think the usual age range is 7-14) - I think it's to do with growth plates sometimes being out of synch, so tends to resolve once they've done their major growing.
What helped was gel insoles , at least for the heel area, and not standing/walking when it was hurting. Very thick soled trainers might help too.

Is it both feet?

Yep, diagnosed age 10 & still suffering 3 years later.
The physiotherapist says there’s not much you can do until they grow out of it..and my DC is not growing very quickly!

we have some exercises to do though which help a little and yes, gel insoles in all shoes!!
Wear trainers as much as they can as shoes with hard soles are less forgiving. Football boots are terrible!
Also slippers indoors to try and provide some cushioning, particularly if you have hard floors.

It’s a huge pain (pun fully intended) as it really limits sports, family walks, bike rides etc.

It is really hard and heartbreaking to see them in pain and limited in mobility. For my DDs as she was playing football at a high level it was very hard. She was out of action for a good 18 months when she was 13yrs and then it was a very a slow intro back to sports with a few false starts along the way.

It really limited what we could do as a family as walking any distance was hard - once a flare up happened the only thing that helped was rest.

She was under the care of the children hospital physios but in reality there is not much they can do. Stretching calf muscles can help a bit. She also got a custom orthic insert but found that getting shoes to fit was impossible so didn't persist with it.

I'm not going to lie it was a dreadfull couple of years and it affected her mental health a lot but she is out the other side now and back playing football. She still sometimes gets a sore heel and we go full on rest for a couple of days and that nips it in the bud.

My DD had this for around 18 months. We found using physio/sports tape to provide a bit of extra support, bio-freeze and gel insoles helped her through periods of higher use.

Thanks everyone. It’s so hard to see her struggling with the pain and not being able to do everything she wants to.

We have gone into as much rest as possible between now and Disney. We already have an access pass due to her brother having ASD so hoping that will help. Preparing to rent a buggy for her in truth as she’s very little!

Going to order some insoles for her shoes, any specific recommendations?

DS who is now 17 had it, he had nhs physiotherapy and custom made orthotic inserts from them. He plays sport internationally and still does now so there is light afterwards, it's just shit watching them go through it at the time.

Both my kids had it. Had permission from school to wear trainers. They must wear soft padded trainers. NHS orthotic insoles and every evening lie with their legs slightly raised with heels on a bag of frozen peas!

Also had prescribed ibuprofen taken religiously to reduce inflammation

@duzzlightyearsmum is it both feet that are affected? I asked upthread but can't see an answer.

Aside from that, you mentioned renting a buggy... from recent experience with my DD (who weighed 20kg at the time) it is much much easier pushing a child around in a wheelchair than a buggy. You could easily wreck your back traipsing around Disney pushing a buggy.

Years I’m afraid, and then the osgood schlatters (similar thing in the knees) started. The GP should send you for physio and to have orthotic insoles made. Get a letter for the school to say he needs to wear trainers instead of hard shoes. Make sure he’s never barefoot even at home. Buy a couple of rubber door stoppers for gentle heel stretching. As for Disney - build in a lot of stops, take freeze gel, and make him sot whenever possible

I mirror what is being said above. My daughter who is very sporty had this from aged 10 until her feet stopped growing.

Physio, orthotics, gel heels to try and. Prevent the painful flare ups and cool packs and regular ibuprofen when we were in them. Trainers were the norm for her at school but I cannot recommend enough have orthotics made for them. It was 6 years ago now but the NHS orthotics services was marvellous.

Sorry for not replying sooner.
Yes it is in both feet. We ordered some insoles which she says have helped a little bit.

Have stocked up on ibuprofen and paracetamol as a back up. Good point about the buggy/wheelchair, i guess we’ll just have to see how she is going.

I will certainly go back to the GP about physio and orthotic insoles

Hi, a Children’s physio here! Severes disease is caused by rapid growth as children's bones grow faster than the muscles, this tightness leads to pain. Here is a great leaflet from our children’s physio association with information, from experience, regular calf stretches resolves the pain altogether. Let me know if you need any further support or information. Have a great time at Disney!

growwithgracephysio.com

apcp.csp.org.uk/system/files/documents/2023-07/Severs%202023.pdf