Parents Sever's Question

[Amanda]

Hi! I suspect my 11 year old dd might have the start of Sever's pain as her heel has been hurting while vaulting. I read through the thread at the top of this forum. It was really helpful. I also read through the protocol that involves massage, stretching, icing, and compression. For those of you who have tried it, when do you do the massage? Should we wait until after practice? If she has a late Friday night practice and an early morning Saturday practice, should we wait until after the Saturday practice? Am I overthinking this? Thanks!

 

[skschlag]

So I have been doing this for my son since about April. We do it at night, after practice and after his bath. That way it is warm and loose. It has worked really well for him! We do not do it the night before a meet.

 

[mommyof1]

After practice we do ice during dinner, then shower, then massage, then stretching. The protocol is very time-consuming, so we only use it during Sever's flare-ups. The massage can be painful, but it's been extremely effective for Tinker Bell.

For the first flare-up, we went to ortho for a diagnosis to rule out anything more serious.

 

[Livlovestoflipandfly]

When my DD was dealing with this we did massage and ice after practice. On days that we knew she was going to have more vaulting/stress on her heels, she also took some ibuprofen prior to practice which she says helped.

 

[3girlsmom]

I'm glad to run across this thread! I How long have the flare ups lasted? My daughter has been dealing with pain for 3 months! Casted for 3 weeks, boot for a week full time with no relief. Now she wears a cheetah heal cup to gym and wears tennis shoes and much as she can. Seriously it's not getting better! Has anyone experienced this?

 

[mommyof1]

My kid got relief with 3 weeks in a boot. Afterwards, she wore cheetah cups and the x brace to gym and we did the gymnastcare protocol for several weeks. We also put Superfeet insoles in her shoes and forbade her to wear flip-flops. After a few weeks she stopped wearing the heel cups because they were slipping and we stopped doing the protocol. We kept her in the x brace and insoles.

Since the initial flare-up, we have immediately instituted the protocol at the first sign of pain. It usually clears things up within a week. She hasn't had a major growth spurt since the first flare-up, though. I am worried that once a growth spurt hits the protocol may not be sufficient.

 

[tpMom]

My DD ices both heals after every practice, whether she's hurting or not. Them we do massage at night after her shower if she's in pain. I will say that her x-braces have been enormously helpful. She's spent 4 weeks in a hard cast, plus 5 weeks on crutches 2 separate times with Sever's (complicated by Lupus and arthritis) but the x-braces are the only things that have really helped.

 

[sce]

I'm glad to run across this thread! I How long have the flare ups lasted? My daughter has been dealing with pain for 3 months! Casted for 3 weeks, boot for a week full time with no relief. Now she wears a cheetah heal cup to gym and wears tennis shoes and much as she can. Seriously it's not getting better! Has anyone experienced this?

Does she ice the heel and have someone massage the calf and achilles? My dd's came and went, her flare ups were not as long as 3 months. She definitely had more pain if her calf was tight though.

 

[3girlsmom]

We have always been icing but I added the massage after reading the previous posts. I also had a mom inbox me with many great tips and recommendation to see a podiatrist to insure no other underlying issues are going on. I appreciate all the helpful techniques for this stubborn pain called severs! It's a bad word in our house! I hope we have relief soon!

 

[oplei]

Ice, massage, stretch, heel cups, caution and patience. My DD dealt with this for several months (almost a year). We did a combination of these things to manage the pain and then almost as mysteriously as it started, it stopped. We kept doing all of those things when the pain subsided for awhile and now she is down to the extra stretching to help prevent a flare up. She has not had a second flare up but isn't willing to risk it. My advice would be to follow the hardest thing which is to have patience and not to push it. It's hard to see your kid frustrated because they can't do as many repetitions at practice (or any) but working through the problem rather than fighting against it will get both of you further.