Children's Heel Pain

04/29/21 • 3 min

Many times children's heel pain is dismissed and assumed it is part of growing pains. This is often not the case, and it should always be evaluated by a pediatric podiatrist in order to make sure that there are no red flags for something more serious going on.
Children's heel pain can be the result of Achilles Tendinitis, a heel fracture, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, or in most cases, a condition called Sever's disease.
Sever’s disease accounts for over 90% of the children’s heel pain cases we see and is the #1 cause of heel pain in kids.
In this episode Dr. Mikkel Jarman discusses children's heel pain and possible causes and treatments.

Previous Episode

Toe Walking in Children - Is There Reason For Concern?

Toe walking is a walking pattern in which the child walks on their toes or the balls of their feet and there’s no contact of the heel to the ground. For children 3 years and younger, toe walking is very common. However, for children ages 3 and up toe walking may be associated with a medical condition. Fortunately, over 90% of these cases can be treated with conservative treatment options.
In this audio track, Dr. Jarman with Pediatric Foot & Ankle in Arizona, discusses toe walking in children and when there is reason for concern and when there is not.
Read more: Toe Walking in Children - Causes, Concerns, & Treatment
Watch full video: Toe Walking - What Every Parent Should Know

Next Episode

Identifying Sever's Disease in Children & The Causes

In this episode, Dr. Mikkel Jarman discusses how to determine whether a child's heel pain is the result of Sever's disease. Sever's is a condition caused by a growth spurt in which the heel bone grows at a faster rate than the muscles and tendons surrounding it. While it is painful, it is usually temporary and mainly affects children ages seven to fourteen years old. Heel pain will worsen with physical ground and pound activities such as dance and gymnastics, soccer, football, baseball. Sever's disease treatments can include: elevating the leg and applying ice, specific leg and foot stretches, and sometimes custom orthotic shoe inserts.

Pediatric Foot & Ankle - Children's Heel Pain

Transcript

Dr. Mikkel Jarman:

Hello. I'm Dr. Mikkel Jarman here with Pediatric Foot & Ankle, and today I'd like to discuss the topic of pediatric heel pain and try to educate you, the parent, regarding the many different causes that contribute to your child's pain. To be clear, pediatric heel pain and