Careful assessment the key to diagnosing adolescent heel pain.

The most common cause of adolescent heel pain is calcaneal apophysitis also known as Sever's disease. The condition may occur in adolescent athletes, particularly those involved in running or jumping activities, during the pubertal growth spurt. The mean age of presentation in Sever's disease is ten, (range 7-15). It presents with posterior heel pain that is worse with activity and relieved by rest in most cases. Sever's disease, Osgood Schlatter's disease (tibial tuberosity) and Sinding-Larsen Johansson syndrome (distal patella) are all overuse syndromes brought about by repetitive submaximal loading and microtrauma. They are, however, entirely self-limiting and resolve at skeletal maturity or earlier. Careful assessment is required to differentiate them from other rare pathologies. Achilles tendinitis is rare under the age of 14. As in Sever's disease, it may occur in jumping athletes, those who suddenly increase their sporting activities and in individuals with relative gastrosoleus tightness. It may also occur in those with inflammatory arthropathies and merit rheumatological investigation if there are other suggestive signs or symptoms. Benign and malignant tumours of the adolescent calcaneus are extremely rare In a unilateral case, atypical features such as night pain or absence of a precipitating activity should raise the index of suspicion. There may be localised swelling and bony expansion.