Coaches Frustrated with Severs Disease

[GymCoachSara]

I have a very talented 9 year old gymnast who was diagnosed with Severs Disease this summer. I don't doubt that she has it, but I find it frusrating and confusing that most days she can handle practice with out heel cups or tape and some days she can't do anything. My question is if any other coaches have had to deal with this. I have done the research and consulted with other coaches on excersizes for her.
But if you have dealt with this, how long did you deal with it? Every articale I read has a different time period of recovery for this.
Its hard to know if the gymnast is really in pain or milking it a bit, unfortunalty I cannot risk ignoring it since I have the doctors note and all.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Sara

 

[bogwoppit]

My oldest started with it when she was 9 and it went on until she stopped her major growth, so around 13. It would come and go, some weeks were very bad, then it would get better for a month or so only to return. She did physio the whole time, wore Tulis CHeetahs and used Oscon vitamin supplement (which did help, but didn't cure something that is essentially a growth issue)

When it flared up she was not allowed to vault or tumble, this really slowed her progress in the gym and was frustrating for her and her coach, but it is the only way to deal with it.

DD also did home stretching dailt and iced twice daily. It was so much a part of our normal life that I look back now and thnk we were mental not to have made her quit then and there.

Now youngest has Osgood Schlatters, same thing but in the knee, and we are dealing with the same thing all over again.

If the doctor says she has it and the kid says she has pain the only thing you can do is put her on a modified training plan. Severs really is very painful, if she has it, she won't need to fake it!

 

[TumbleBunny]

My DD has also struggled on and off with severs. She has won the heel cups and tape as well. She was at a gym that told her she needed to work through the pain and would get frustrated with her while she put on the heel cups.The gym she now attends allows her to tumble in tennis shoes and vault in tennis shoes if it is flaring up. Also, look at the gymnasticsdoctor.com (also on FB). He does post videos for rehab for different injuries. He has been a great resource for us. I have also emailed him directly and he always responds back. It may take him awhile,because he is working with a college gymnast now with a serious injury to her back.

 

[10.0]

You're not going to be able to accuse her of faking or milking it. She has been diagnosed with it now and everyone experiences pain differently as well. So something that to you would feel like a little pain you could work through could feel like the end of the world to her. Maybe talk to her Mom/Dad and ask what her doctor suggest she does on bad days.

The only thing on faking I could say is you know her as a gymnast if she hates a certain skill/event or conditioning item and she gets a flare up just during those times that only lasts for the one thing I might wonder, and I guess in that case you could talk with her parent about it.

Also I have been on the other side of things as a young gymnast, I had bad knee pain (parents never took me to the Dr. they would just wrap it and tell me to suck it up) somedays were fine others I would do fine on say beam and bars and then go to vault do 1 or 2 then fall apart, which gave my coach the impression I hated vault and wasn't trying. In reality it hurt so bad I could not run or jump well enough to do a good vault so it just looked sloppy to him, as a child I hard time convincing an adult that I really did hurt.

 

[GymCoachSara]

Thanks for the helpful advice, Ill keep working with a modified lesson plan, and check out that website.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

hi gymcoachsara. the problem will end when she is near done growing. approx time is within 6 months post menstrual cycle. as the body grows the bones, joints and growth plates have to wait for the ligaments, muscles, tendons and attachments to catch up. the bones always grow first unless a disease is present. so, the growth plates in the heels will become unstable from time to time and until such time that all the above (and for example in this case the achilles(s) tendons) has caught up to bone growth/density changes in the calcaneus(s) as the growth plates close.

the medical description of this condition is calcaneal epophysitis. this means inflammation [soft tissue swelling etc;] at the epophysis(growth plate) of the calcaneus(heel).

and it never presents the same consistent way in all kids. some kids can vault with no pain while others limp down the vault runway. so, you just have to be patient until her "friend" pays her a visit.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My DD has also struggled on and off with severs. She has won the heel cups and tape as well. She was at a gym that told her she needed to work through the pain and would get frustrated with her while she put on the heel cups.The gym she now attends allows her to tumble in tennis shoes and vault in tennis shoes if it is flaring up. Also, look at the gymnasticsdoctor.com (also on FB). He does post videos for rehab for different injuries. He has been a great resource for us. I have also emailed him directly and he always responds back. It may take him awhile,because he is working with a college gymnast now with a serious injury to her back.

gymnasticsdoctor.com is Dr. Larry Nassar. He is a practicing physician in Lansing, Michigan, team doctor for Michigan State Women's gymnastics AND the team physician for USA Gymnastics. it may take him awhile to respond because he is very busy with gymnasts. he also checks in at Geddert's weekly as their team doc and where he started in his "humble" pursuit of gymnastics knowledge.

he is not working with a college gymnast with a serious injury to her back. he did oversee the surgery and management and transfer to chicago of a college gymnast that injured her neck though.

 

[GymCoachSara]

Great information to learn. Its so inconsistant I m finding out with each case. Because my gymnast can have a great few days then can hardly walk. I assuming she is pushing herself too hard then paying big painful consequences later. I worked on a modified lesson plan today for her and she got a lot done in practice today. Now knowing what kind of timeline I am looking at I can lose MY frustration and work with her

 

[bookworm]

My daughter had Sever's (only in one foot) when she was about 10 years old and working front and back tucks on beam...it continued for a while (2 yrs) despite cheetah paws, ice , resting etc. It only resolved after she broke the same foot and was in a cast for 8-10 weeks! After that, knock on wood, never again....she felt that the front tucks on beam were the real aggravator for her so she does a side and front aerial instead and doesn't have the pound of the front tuck to aggravate her heel...3 years later, and she is still good...

...and in terms of pain, she was always able to do stuff with the Sever's and it could be VERY uncomfortable even with modified workouts (and by the end of practice she would be extremely sore) , but she was always able to bear weight on her foot...she was only unable to bear weight on the foot when she broke it.

 

[gymcoach34]

The pain usually comes & goes, and the kids are really good about doing their stretching PT when it hurts. The key I dicovered to HELP with severs pain is to have them do the stretching when it doesnt hurt as well. Our whole gym does pike stretches on the beam- sideways-we do 2x 30 sec intervals of squatting (holding under the beam) and really pressing the heels down, then also straightening legs (still jholding under & presing heels down). If you do it dilligently, it does help w the severs.

 

[GymCoachSara]

Again thank you all for the great advice! This week has been a complete difference in training. I have used a lot of what I learned on here and put it into training and the gymnast is doing great!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

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