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RTT2

Proud Parent
Over the last week DD (11) has been complaining of some heel pain. She says it's not too bad (about a 4 on a 1-10 pain scale), but I'm suspecting it could be Sever's and want to do whatever we can to nip it early. Obviously, if it gets worse I'll take her to the doctor, but for now I'm having her ice daily, do stretches I found recommend for Sever's, and have switched her to better, supportive shoes (guilty of letting her run around in flip flops all summer). Any other suggestions?
 
We had the same issue at the same age during the spring/early summer. Huge growth spurt during this time and a 7 on the pain scale. We did all of the treatments you mentioned, plus the x braces. Nothing except time helped. It took almost a full month for her to not be in constant pain and 2 1/2 weeks of no impact at practice. She also had Achilles tendinitis in both. Good luck, hope she feels better quickly.
 
Get a doctors diagnosis first. DD has Severs. In July what we thought was another case of Severs , wasn’t. It was Achilles Tendinitis. Which is treated slightly differently.

For Severs, the cheetah cup helped her. And ice. And ibuprofen. And stretching/ massaging. The whole protocol.
 
Agree about going to a specialist, as Severs vs. tendinitis is treated differently. My DD has had both and several things worked. Physical therapy was effective for the tendinitis, massage was more effective for Severs, especially her calf muscles. She uses Cheetah at practice. But honestly, no impact for a period of time was the only thing that decreased her pain from a 6-7 down to a 2-3. She is still battling pain that comes and goes. Also, bought her high quality running shoes and stopped the flip flops, Uggs and even Converse. Our experience is a combination of things is most effective, so hard to point to just one.
 
Get a doctors diagnosis first. DD has Severs. In July what we thought was another case of Severs , wasn’t. It was Achilles Tendinitis. Which is treated slightly differently.

For Severs, the cheetah cup helped her. And ice. And ibuprofen. And stretching/ massaging. The whole protocol.

+1 to this. We thought DD had another case of Severs this summer also. It was 2 weeks of "Severs Pain" in a cheetah cup/x-brace that just kept getting worse before we figured out WTH was going on. It was a sprain, and DD did not articulate clearly at the time that she had injured it tumbling. A couple weeks of rest/boot and she's as good as new.
 
The x-brace did not work for me. It kept on slipping off even though I got the right size. Then it required tape. The brace didn't even work for me either.
What worked for me was following the gymnast care protocol, wearing insoles in my tennis shoes, and rolling out my feet, and also getting a foam roller and rolling out my calves. I also got cupping done or a professional massage. I had it really bad. Thank heavens I'm done growing.
But even with all that the best thing that worked for me was taking a supplement called oscon. It has vitamins in it or something that reduce inflammation in the body. Severs is inflammation in the heels.
When it was really bad for gym I didn't do vault or did very few if I thought I could, or had a meet coming up. For floor I might have done like 2 of each pass
 
Good athletic shoes and insoles with metatarsal pads (take her to a store that specializes in either running, or comfort and diabetic shoes). Preferably one that has the foot scanner and gait analyzer things. It’s going to cost you, but it’s worth it.

And another vote for the X Brace. Worked for my plantar facsitis, too.
 
This is not the place to diagnose medical issues. That place is the doctors.
 
I agree with having a doctor diagnose severs, as something more than severs may be going on. But when its confirmed that it is "only" severs the doctors don't do much.
 
X-brace didn’t work for my Severs kid, nor did it work for my plantar fasciitis kid... but, another girls at my DDs gym loved it enough to order her own after DD let her try it, so it is totally individual.
For My Severs kid, the cheetah cup in combination with the massage linked above and modification on vault and floor worked. She had a few flare ups for a couple of years, when it was bad she was heavily modified and then managed with the cheetah cup. She is finally not needing it anymore, after a few years.... we have other injuries to deal with, but the Severs is hopefully in the past.
 
kimute's video above: This, amazing for my dd. Much better than all the things we tried over years with dd1.
 
Nothing worked for my DD (PR, Xbrace, massage, ice, protocol, podiatrist, supplements) except acupuncture. Seriously, after a few years of her having long periods of severs acting up, acupuncture took care of it in only 3-4 treatments.
 

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