Parents Severs

[SJennings0411]

Anyone have any experience with Severs? My daughter was just dx'd yesterday with it.. Basically we were told gel cups and ice and rest.. I read about Tulis Cheetah Heel cups, just curious do you wear one on both feet or just the affected foot? Any tips, suggestions etc I'd love to hear them!

 

[MuggleMom]

My kid has never been diagnosed with it but I am pretty sure thats what ails her. Look up online about stretching and massage for severs. Muscle tightness especially in the calves is the enemy so you can find lots of great massage and stretching techniques to help alleviate that and by extension the heel pain. There is a great video that I think has massage techniques and ways to massage with a frozen water bottle that are supposed to be great. You can pay for physical therapy but I have found there are so many great PT videos online now if you have a diagnosis there is much you can do on your own.

My kid did Cheeta Cups and the Xbrace. She likes the Xbrace better for the most part but if her heel starts to REALLY hurt she will put the cheetah cup on that heel. You don't need to wear it on both.

Find a great way to ice and ice as frequently as you can (we have a cool ice boot thing we use now but we have just done simple ice buckets in the past). Stretch. Stretch some more. Then Stretch again. Also I think that Epsom Salt baths help. Remember tight muscles are the enemy. My kid has super tight calves and I know that really adds to her issues. I will due calf massages on her at night when its really bad.

Encourage her to speak up at gym and try and do less reps when its really bothering her. My kid will do less vaults when its acting up especially and maybe not as many full floor routines.

Make sure she has great shoes with good arch support. Maybe use the Tullis in the shoes if she likes them. Wear shoes whenever possible (so not at gym). No crappy shoes or crappy flip flops it makes things worse. I got Oofos flops for the summer because they have some arch support. Vans are the enemy when my kid wore those her feet hurt the worst now she only wears nice tennis shoes especially at school where they walk on those hard floors all day.

These are all the things that have helped us. It will be worse during growth spurts so be on the look out for that as well.

 

[MuggleMom]

Oh one more thing we do Chiropractic care for just general body health for her and since they started adjusting her feet it has helped her heel pain significantly. If you are already doing Chiro or considering it ask if they do feet adjustments as well.

 

[SJennings0411]

My kid has never been diagnosed with it but I am pretty sure thats what ails her. Look up online about stretching and massage for severs. Muscle tightness especially in the calves is the enemy so you can find lots of great massage and stretching techniques to help alleviate that and by extension the heel pain. There is a great video that I think has massage techniques and ways to massage with a frozen water bottle that are supposed to be great. You can pay for physical therapy but I have found there are so many great PT videos online now if you have a diagnosis there is much you can do on your own.

My kid did Cheeta Cups and the Xbrace. She likes the Xbrace better for the most part but if her heel starts to REALLY hurt she will put the cheetah cup on that heel. You don't need to wear it on both.

Find a great way to ice and ice as frequently as you can (we have a cool ice boot thing we use now but we have just done simple ice buckets in the past). Stretch. Stretch some more. Then Stretch again. Also I think that Epsom Salt baths help. Remember tight muscles are the enemy. My kid has super tight calves and I know that really adds to her issues. I will due calf massages on her at night when its really bad.

Encourage her to speak up at gym and try and do less reps when its really bothering her. My kid will do less vaults when its acting up especially and maybe not as many full floor routines.

Make sure she has great shoes with good arch support. Maybe use the Tullis in the shoes if she likes them. Wear shoes whenever possible (so not at gym). No crappy shoes or crappy flip flops it makes things worse. I got Oofos flops for the summer because they have some arch support. Vans are the enemy when my kid wore those her feet hurt the worst now she only wears nice tennis shoes especially at school where they walk on those hard floors all day.

These are all the things that have helped us. It will be worse during growth spurts so be on the look out for that as well.

Thank you so much for all the information. My little is 6, so we have many growth spurts to go.. I will def look into the videos. I had saw the ice boots and was wondering if that would help or work.. Mine likes to be barefoot 90% of the time so that def doesnt help her.

 

[Ty’s Dad]

My daughter has had it all year. Basically nothing works, she stretches it every day before and after practice, but her sports doctor said as long as she’s growing it will keep coming back

 

[JBS]

Any tips, suggestions etc I'd love to hear them!

Cheetah's are terrible... their feet sweat in them and then they slide up dangerously. Not much padding either.

Massage and...

Link Removed

Very expensive... but very awesome.

My daughter had issues for several years. Massage and those braces were the key. Reduced numbers too... lots of trampoline.

 

[Dad1234]

Cheetah cups and icing didn’t really do anything for my daughter. The best thing we did was to see a physical therapist for one session to learn the correct way to stretch and strengthen. Nothing changed for her until she committed to doing the exercises everyday for about two weeks combined with icing it, around the clock ibuprofen, and use of the cheetah cup. Once she did this we saw a big difference in her pain. Now, as soon as she gets pain, she starts back up with the exercises and the pain subsides pretty quickly. We tried the cheetah cup and the xbrace. She seems to prefer the cheetah cup but sometimes wears the xbrace. Also, mine has an ice boot and she preferred that to just a bag of ice.

 

[pt coach]

My daughter had both Cheetah cups and the X-Brace. For her the X-Brace worked the best. She said the Cheetah cups didn't feel "stable" to her.

 

[SJennings0411]

My daughter has had it all year. Basically nothing works, she stretches it every day before and after practice, but her sports doctor said as long as she’s growing it will keep coming b

Cheetah's are terrible... their feet sweat in them and then they slide up dangerously. Not much padding either.

Massage and...

Link Removed

Very expensive... but very awesome.

My daughter had issues for several years. Massage and those braces were the key. Reduced numbers too... lots of trampoline.

Thank you for the info I will def look into this..

 

[SJennings0411]

Cheetah cups and icing didn’t really do anything for my daughter. The best thing we did was to see a physical therapist for one session to learn the correct way to stretch and strengthen. Nothing changed for her until she committed to doing the exercises everyday for about two weeks combined with icing it, around the clock ibuprofen, and use of the cheetah cup. Once she did this we saw a big difference in her pain. Now, as soon as she gets pain, she starts back up with the exercises and the pain subsides pretty quickly. We tried the cheetah cup and the xbrace. She seems to prefer the cheetah cup but sometimes wears the xbrace. Also, mine has an ice boot and she preferred that to just a bag of ice.

Do you know where you can find the ice boots in youth size?? Everything I am finding shows to be like one size, since she is only 6 I'm afraid the one that fits adults will be way to big for her, or does it even matter?

 

[Dad1234]

Do you know where you can find the ice boots in youth size?? Everything I am finding shows to be like one size, since she is only 6 I'm afraid the one that fits adults will be way to big for her, or does it even matter?

I got it on Amazon. This brand has toddler sizes and little kid sizes. She currently eight and is in a size 3 big kids shoe and it fits her just fine. She would walk around the house in it. And the nice thing is that she could get the ice inserts out of the freezer and set the boot up herself. I didn’t have to do anything other than tell her to use it.

 

[SJennings0411]

I got it on Amazon. This brand has toddler sizes and little kid sizes. She currently eight and is in a size 3 big kids shoe and it fits her just fine. She would walk around the house in it. And the nice thing is that she could get the ice inserts out of the freezer and set the boot up herself. I didn’t have to do anything other than tell her to use it. View attachment 8250

I guess I missed that one, will go look now!! Thank you!!

 

[KIPSOG]

I personally find that cheetah cups really helped. I did lots of specific severs stretching and exercises. I also iced my heels every single night. I just recently started to grow out of it and I'm almost 16. (Severs didn't really start until I was 11). I stopped wearing cheetahs on the beam when I started doing backhandsprings because they can slip. I still wear them for floor and vault though. I've never had any major problems with them and they really helped with my pain. They do stink really bad though.

 

[KIPSOG]

Nothing changed for her until she committed to doing the exercises everyday for about two weeks combined with icing it,

This is the truth. The key is consistency. It probably won't get better unless she's consistent about streching/exercises and icing. It won't work immediately, it'll take time, but if you're patient it will help. So don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate results.