Heel pain in adults and kids- getting your family back on their feet!
Sport season is up and running and that might mean lots of standing on the sideline watching the kids play or maybe playing a bit yourself. Either way, you may find you or your kids are suffering from heel pain. So here’s some information direct from your local podiatrists, on surviving the sporting season and the upcoming holidays!
How is your child’s heel pain different to yours?
Well let’s start with the kids. Your children’s feet are still developing and kids often suffer with heel pain in the area of their heel growth plate. This usually happens when their heel is turning from cartilage to bone. There is a large growth plate on a back of your child’s heel where the Achilles attaches. Kids commonly present to us with pain under or behind their heel. It will often be worse after or during sport or after the holidays. It can be really distressing for kids and adults who suffer from heel pain for years at a time. Heel pain in kids can be very debilitating and can stop them from enjoying or playing the sports they love. Kids will often start walking strangely (often duck like) and sometimes these bad habits stick so it’s important to have them checked as soon as possible!
What might be wrong?
The important message is that kids don’t need to struggle on with heel pain. There are many heel pain conditions that we diagnose which have a variety of different causes and solutions however Severs disease is a common condition (as described above) where the growth plates are still fusing to allow the heel to become bone- the problem is that it can be severely debilitating and cause pain and other walking and running problems. Heel pain in children is commonly diagnosed as Sever’s Disease and it can cause your kids to struggle to enjoy their favourite sports unless they are treated correctly. Never dismiss pain as “just growing pains” because it could be something that can be treated! With the right assessment and management kids can stay active as they grow, which of course is the ultimate goal! Severs disease is a condition that as podiatrists we are assessing and finding solutions for on a daily basis. We love helping our smaller patients with heel pain, it’s a joy to see them up and running again!
Heel pain in adults
Adults tend to present with a different type of heel pain which we also treat on a daily basis. There are many causes of heel pain in adults and you can read more about them here, most commonly you will feel heel pain in the morning or after rest, it tends to feel like you are walking on a small stone. This pain can persist throughout the day and become so significant that it is difficult to walk. The pain occurs as a result of the degeneration of the plantar fascia which is due to repeated strain, which occurs with the thousands of steps you take every day. Heel pain in adults can become quite debilitating when left without the right treatment. Relieving heel pain in adults is something we pride ourselves on. All of our podiatrists are treating both Adults and kids who are suffering heel pain according to their condition – as treatments do vary.
So as you can see we have two very different conditions which our university qualified podiatrists have additional training in assessing and treating on a daily basis.
If you or your child would like to get back to an ACTIVE AND PAIN FREE life simply and you plan on surviving the holidays and sporting seasons ahead our best advice is to make an appointment today! Just click the book now button below.