10-15 year old with foot pain

Typically the parents bring in the patient with foot pain that they have tried to treat at home with motrin, etc and the patient's pain is the same or worse.     At about the ages of 10-15 the child will undergo massive growth spurts and the growth plate can become inflammed from the counter pulling of muscles / tendons, etc. Added to the fact that this is also the age where most kids become active and serious into sports, karate, etc. Two common diagnosis for kids of this age group is:

• Severs Disease  inflammation of the heel growth plate.  I see this in basketball players and karate students.     Best way to treat this at home is to do achilles stretching, wear proper shoes and heel cups.   If these fail, then a visit to your local podiatrist would be in order.  Below is a film about stretching, for more resources, visit www.Naplesheelpain.com
• Os Vesalium Syndrome: Swelling and pain the base or back of the #5 metatarsal base (bone on the outside of the foot.    Stretching, rest, Ice.
• OsGood Schlatter disease:   Pain in front of the knee where the patellar tendon inserts into the tibia.  Patients will complain about knee pain typically in the 10-15 year old age group. Stretching the hamstrings and quads will help this condition as well as Rest, Ice, and topical anti inflammatories. 

Lesson in all this is that with increased activity and growth the child needs a consistent stretching program to avoid these problems as well as bone spurs when they are adults. 

Tight muscles , tendons, ligaments are the reason why heel spurs, bone spurs are formed in the lower extremity.   Proper training programs requires proper stretching programs to coincide. 

Stretching instructions

Below talks about Pediatric Heel Pain

Below talks about how to buy shoes for your child.

• Second most common foot pain in a child of this group is Os Vesalium syndrome.  

Hope you find this informative and ask questions. What do you want to know? 

Dr. Kevin Lam,DPM, FACFAS

www.NaplesPodiatrist.com

239 430 3668