What is Sever’s disease?
Sever’s disease is an inflammation of the growth cartilage of the heel following excessive traction of the Achilles tendon. This condition is present in children during rapid growth. The lengthening of the bones then occurs so quickly that the soft tissues (including muscles and tendons) do not have time to adapt. They are then in constant stretching. The tensioning of the muscles behind the legs then causes pain in the heels.
What Chiropractic Can Do About It
In chiropractic, it is possible to make the evaluation and diagnosis of this condition. An X-ray evaluation may also be done by your chiropractor to rule out other conditions with similar symptoms requiring a different approach. Chiropractic therapy for Sever’s disease includes gentle joint manipulation, muscle work, kinesiotapping and more with the intention of decreasing the excessive pulling that is performed by the Achilles tendon on the growth plate of the heel.
What the physio-kin program can do about it
In children, bones grow and muscles and other soft tissues must adapt by lengthening in turn. Physiotherapists and kinesiologists can offer stretches to help these tissues adapt to changes. We can also manually work the ankle and foot joints in physiotherapy.
What podiatry can do about it
In podiatry we can do the evaluation to properly target the problem and then we will mainly give shoe advice, suggest wearing a heel pad while healing takes place and offer stretching exercises for the Achilles tendon. . It is often not necessary to go to orthotics for this problem, unless there is another indication at the same time.
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Dr Audrey Dupont
Podiatrist
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Dr Catherine Charlebois
Chiropractor
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Marie-Hélène Nadeau
Physiotherapist and owner