Severs Protocol

[vanillaicecream]

So my 11 year old has really progressed in the 10-ish months from when she first started with her pitching lessons and now we are battling Severs.

Her heel only seems to bother her when pitching. Didn't bother her last year.

She has a school uniform and wears shoes with very little support and we've got the Nxtmile inserts in those now (for about a month). No complaints at school in them.

Has a pair of basic under armor sneakers for gym, no complaints in these.

No complaints running around pool patio barefoot.

Podiatrist gave us non-gel insoles to try, tried for about a week....complaints about hurting heel daily. Switched to the aforementioned Nxtmile and no complaints.

When her heel (left heel, she is RHP) bothers her on the mound she slows everything down, which is hard to watch because she normally throws hard. Eclipsing over 40mph recently on the gun.

Does not bother her after games though or when not on mound. Fine on post-game relay race usually, fine on ride home, fine at home.

Here's what we've tried and what we have in our ever-growing medical cabinet lol:

1. She had nike cleats, we swapped out to Ringor (with pitching toe) turf shoes and cleats. She's been wearing just the turf shoes for now but still bothering her some (no inserts or cups in these yet)

2. Daily stretching and icing at night

3. Supportive inside-only sneakers

What we have in-stock to try:

Heel cups (Tuli's, gel and cushion options)

Ibuprofen before games

Heat wrap for foot

------

So right now the battle really just seems to be in-game. It's seems to be mild compared to what I've read but enough to bother her.

We are going to try the heel cups next and then if those don't work maybe another set of Nxtmile inserts

Cleat wise I'm not sure what else is out there that would be more effective than the Ringor turf shoes.

Questions:

1. Is there something we could be doing pre-game to help? Ibuprofen? Heat to loosen muscles up or would icing be better?
2. Heat or ice in dugout when not batting in-between pitching innings?
3. Anything else I should try at all?

TIA!

 

[Sonerai]

My DD and some of her teammates have experienced different types of foot and ankle pain. From my experience it's not always related to the shoes and inserts. Our issues related to her core strength (or lack there of). When pitching she was over compensating with other body parts due to a lack of core strength and it resulted in knee, ankle and foot arch pain. It would come and go throughout the season. We took her to a really good sports physical therapy place and she did her exercises religiously for about 3-4 months and the pain, for the most part, went away. The person that referred us to the therapist has a DD that is a high level athlete (now 6'3") with a lot of foot pain. She ended up resolving the issue through physical therapy.
This may not be the issue with your DD, but it may be worth checking out.

 

[rjgarcia76]

So my 11 year old has really progressed in the 10-ish months from when she first started with her pitching lessons and now we are battling Severs.

Her heel only seems to bother her when pitching. Didn't bother her last year.

She has a school uniform and wears shoes with very little support and we've got the Nxtmile inserts in those now (for about a month). No complaints at school in them.

Has a pair of basic under armor sneakers for gym, no complaints in these.

No complaints running around pool patio barefoot.

Podiatrist gave us non-gel insoles to try, tried for about a week....complaints about hurting heel daily. Switched to the aforementioned Nxtmile and no complaints.

When her heel (left heel, she is RHP) bothers her on the mound she slows everything down, which is hard to watch because she normally throws hard. Eclipsing over 40mph recently on the gun.

Does not bother her after games though or when not on mound. Fine on post-game relay race usually, fine on ride home, fine at home.

Here's what we've tried and what we have in our ever-growing medical cabinet lol:

1. She had nike cleats, we swapped out to Ringor (with pitching toe) turf shoes and cleats. She's been wearing just the turf shoes for now but still bothering her some (no inserts or cups in these yet)

2. Daily stretching and icing at night

3. Supportive inside-only sneakers

What we have in-stock to try:

Heel cups (Tuli's, gel and cushion options)

Ibuprofen before games

Heat wrap for foot

------

So right now the battle really just seems to be in-game. It's seems to be mild compared to what I've read but enough to bother her.

We are going to try the heel cups next and then if those don't work maybe another set of Nxtmile inserts

Cleat wise I'm not sure what else is out there that would be more effective than the Ringor turf shoes.

Questions:

1. Is there something we could be doing pre-game to help? Ibuprofen? Heat to loosen muscles up or would icing be better?
2. Heat or ice in dugout when not batting in-between pitching innings?
3. Anything else I should try at all?

TIA!

DD had a similar issue for about a year when she was 9 or 10, mostly due to ballet, but it really affected her while playing softball. It took some time and effort to get it under control, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She completely stopped wearing cleats for about 3 months and wore New Balance turfs anytime we were playing. She started treating with a doctor who advised us that it was the strength/tightness in her leg muscles and tendons that was causing the problem. He gave us a three times daily stretching routine and loaned us a slant board to use until I built her one myself. Ibuprofen for pain/inflammation and cold packs/ice as needed. It took an entire fall season and winter break to get her pain free. You must be consistent or else it will take much longer.

 

[vanillaicecream]

DD had a similar issue for about a year when she was 9 or 10, mostly due to ballet, but it really affected her while playing softball. It took some time and effort to get it under control, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She completely stopped wearing cleats for about 3 months and wore New Balance turfs anytime we were playing. She started treating with a doctor who advised us that it was the strength/tightness in her leg muscles and tendons that was causing the problem. He gave us a three times daily stretching routine and loaned us a slant board to use until I built her one myself. Ibuprofen for pain/inflammation and cold packs/ice as needed. It took an entire fall season and winter break to get her pain free. You must be consistent or else it will take much longer.

Did you ice during games at all or in between games at tournaments?

 

[_MIA_]

Did you ice during games at all or in between games at tournaments?

DD iced in between games for a few tournaments when it really bothered her, never during games though.

 

[rjgarcia76]

Did you ice during games at all or in between games at tournaments?

Never during games, but in between games as needed. Just be sure that you re-stretch/warm up some before getting started again.

 

[LW23]

Your daughter is likely growing at her age. It could be a muscle imbalance, and seeing the Podiatrist was the right thing. Has any imaging been done(MRI)? My DD had ringors at your daughters age and they hurt her feet. We switched to new balance and she said they were more comfortable she was growing a lot and I'm not convinced it was the shoes. I would see an Orthopedic to be on the safe side, and rule out in structural damage. If you have video some of the pitching guru's may see something with her foot strike that could be off.

 

[vanillaicecream]

Your daughter is likely growing at her age. It could be a muscle imbalance, and seeing the Podiatrist was the right thing. Has any imaging been done(MRI)? My DD had ringors at your daughters age and they hurt her feet. We switched to new balance and she said they were more comfortable she was growing a lot and I'm not convinced it was the shoes. I would see an Orthopedic to be on the safe side, and rule out in structural damage. If you have video some of the pitching guru's may see something with her foot strike that could be off.

No ortho yet, no imaging either. I will though, initially I figured since it doesn't bother her anywhere else it must be something with the shoes or her specific activity on the mound as she does other things that should bother her heel that are more impactful than pitching but makes sense to be safe than sorry.

Something like this?

New Balance Shoes & Apparel | Official New Balance® Site

 

[vanillaicecream]

Never during games, but in between games as needed. Just be sure that you re-stretch/warm up some before getting started again.

Gotcha...sounds like I shouldn't ice before either...I didn't think to because it seems counterintuitive....maybe we'll stretch with some light heat applied to the area + calf to get the whole area loose.

 

[LW23]

No ortho yet, no imaging either. I will though, initially I figured since it doesn't bother her anywhere else it must be something with the shoes or her specific activity on the mound as she does other things that should bother her heel that are more impactful than pitching but makes sense to be safe than sorry.

Something like this?

New Balance Shoes & Apparel | Official New Balance® Site

Yes, DD has last years version of the NB turf shoes. I have paid for more doctor visits than I probably had too throughout the years, but it was worth it. Keep us posted on how thing progress.