What to Do When Your Teen Has Heel Pain

Most active adults—even the ones who take good care of themselves physically—are accustomed to dealing with occasional aches and pains. Serious pain is never normal, of course, but a little soreness after a big run isn’t much to worry about. But when a teenager is suffering from significant heel pain, it’s a lot more concerning. Kids aren’t supposed to hurt!

Although teenagers can suffer from the same sorts of “wear and tear” heel pain conditions that adults do—plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis—they’re more likely to have a condition known as Sever’s disease. This is, fortunately, not really a disease, but a type of injury unique to children. At this stage of development, the ends of many bones (including the heel bone) are covered by a “growth plate” responsible for forming new bone. The growth plates are softer than mature bone and more susceptible to injury and inflammation. Kids who play a lot of sports are at the greatest risk.

If your teen is suffering from heel pain, you should take them in to see the team at Omega Medical Group. Pediatric care and foot and ankle sports medicine are both important components of what we do here. Keeping our patients as active as possible while bringing about full healing is a core philosophy at OMG, and we’ll do everything we can to restore your child to full, pain-free activity.

Usually, your child will have to dial back on certain activities for a few weeks in order to give their heels a chance to rest and recover. There’s no way around it. Still, it’s important to keep your child as active as possible so that they can stay healthy and positive through the recovery. This certainly would include some physical therapy exercises, and it might also include some “alternative activities” that keep them engaged without putting extra stress on the heels—like going for a bike ride!

For our part, we will carefully assess and identify the most significant contributing factors to your child’s heel pain. This helps us construct a personalized treatment plan, with the care options we believe will be the most effective for your child specifically.

If your child is suffering, trust the OMG team to get him or her back on the field as quickly as possible. To schedule, make an appointment request online, or call us at (305) 514-0404.