Severs Disease

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Dec 27, 2008
12
1
Goleta, CA
My 11 year old dd was diagnosed with Severs Disease by our orthopedic specialist today. It is a condition of the heel involving the growth plate, and from what I understood from our doctor, it is from a big growth spurt and the body not being able to catch up to where it should be with bone growth?
My dd is the top pitcher on our all star team, so this is very disconcerting for her.

Without going into the way it developed and what I have learned about how to deal with it, I just wanted to know if anyone here has run into this problem with their daughters or any other players on the teams you are a part of.
 
May 18, 2009
1,314
38
I think one of our pitchers, last year, had something similar but it affected her knees. She wasn't able to run because of it so she either pitched or sat on the bench. She looks better this year, has less pain, and is able to play multiple positions. It affected her from age 11 through age 13. Now her body is working it out.
 
Feb 16, 2009
38
0
DD had bad pain from those back tendons connencting to the heel where she couldn't walk after a game and some times was brought to tears. After x-rays we didn't get a dx with that exact name, just that the bones/tendons at that age grow at different spurts. She was 11/12 at the time. With Advil/Ice/Rest after games she was still able to play and eventually it just went away on its own.
 
Oct 26, 2009
1
0
My 11yo daughter (also a pitcher) was diagnosed with Sever's disease about 6 months ago. At time she could barely walk let alone run. She pushed herself to do so though and played through the pain this summer (100+ games). After the season was over (and after seeing several doctors including both an orthopedist and a pediatrist and going though 2 rounds of therepy) we found a doctor specializing in sports medicine who helped tremendously. There is a relatively new procedure that helps speed tendon/ligament injuries to heal. It is called regenerative injection therapy where the patients own blood platelets are injected into the injury site. Well, my daughter was in such pain that she was willing to try anything. On September 16 she had multiple injections into both Achilles tendon. She could barely walk for two days after and could not run for two weeks. After that she began easing back into softball, however she did not play any games until last weekend. She played 7 games over two days last weekend and was pain free. Her Severs was so bad I doubt that she would have been pain free without this procedure. I know that the rest helped, but we tried that as part of our inital course of actual back in May with no noticeable reduction in pain. It might not be for everyone and might be more of a last resort than anything else, but it helped my daughter tremendously.
 
Jul 27, 2019
4
1
I'm so glad I found this forum. My 11 yr old dd just started complaining about her heel every time she was working out practicing ECT. We took her to the doc and he said the same severs. I feel so bad for her because she is trying out for a couple new tournament teams this year that she really wants to play for and she is trying her hardest to play through it and act like she's fine. But at the end of each of these tryouts she is noticably limping. She is trying to hide it from the coach's but you can tell it's an issue. I wish there was a quick fix that i could use to just get her through these couple of tryouts. I know what it's like to want to play for a team and trying to workout for them with an injury. She doesn't want to put it out there and sound like she is making an excuse for not moving at the top of her game but at the same time this isn't her top level play and she knows it. I just feel awful for her 😔
 
May 16, 2016
1,024
113
Illinois
One of the top players on the team I coach has Severs disease. My son also has it.

Dr. told us there is not a hole lot you can do about the pain except rest. In most cases the kids grow out of the disease by the time they are 12-13 years old. Dr. gave my son some gel shoe implants. My son also plays travel basketball, basketball hurts his heels a lot.

The girl I coach that has Severs disease is an incredible athlete. When her feet are hurting bad she looks like an average player. When her feet are fealing good she is a stud softball player.
 
Jul 27, 2019
4
1
One of the top players on the team I coach has Severs disease. My son also has it.

Dr. told us there is not a hole lot you can do about the pain except rest. In most cases the kids grow out of the disease by the time they are 12-13 years old. Dr. gave my son some gel shoe implants. My son also plays travel basketball, basketball hurts his heels a lot.

The girl I coach that has Severs disease is an incredible athlete. When her feet are hurting bad she looks like an average player. When her feet are fealing good she is a stud softball player.
Yeah and that's exactly how my daughter is as well. So now these new coaches are seeing her and thinking she's average when In reality she's so much better. The worse part about it is that it makes it hard for me to coach her fundamentals. Her body naturally favors the heel so it just won't move certain ways. It's very challenging.
 
Jul 27, 2019
4
1
Yeah and that's exactly how my daughter is as well. So now these new coaches are seeing her and thinking she's average when In reality she's so much better. The worse part about it is that it makes it hard for me to coach her fundamentals. Her body naturally favors the heel so it just won't move certain ways. It's very challenging.
She is so frustrated with it. I can see it in her. But she is a true gamer and won't admit it or use it as an excuse. As a father and a coach this just breaks my heart.
 
May 16, 2016
1,024
113
Illinois
Yeah and that's exactly how my daughter is as well. So now these new coaches are seeing her and thinking she's average when In reality she's so much better. The worse part about it is that it makes it hard for me to coach her fundamentals. Her body naturally favors the heel so it just won't move certain ways. It's very challenging.

The girl on my team that has Severs is one of the fastest kids I have ever seen when her feet feel good. When her feet are hurting, you can see that she tries to run on her tippy toes. Calling this girl average was not the correct term when I said that earlier. Even when her feet are hurting, she is still very good.

Hope you daughter feet feel better as soon as possible. I think my son will be fighting Severs for atleast two more years. He just turned 10 year old.
 
Jul 27, 2019
4
1
Thanks for the responses man I appreciate it a lot. And I hope your son gets through it quickly as well. From what I've read it seems as if boys are more prone to it then girls. But I read that they also get through it quicker. Beat of luck to you as well.
 

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