A tight calf muscle has often been mentioned as a factor in Sever's Disease or Calcaneal apophysitis in kids. When you examine a lot of these, the calf muscles feel tight. But how do we know that this has anything to do with the cause of this problem? ...we don't. There are 3 explanations:
1. The calf muscles are tight and they were a cause of the problem
2. The calf muscles are tight, but the tightness came on after the Sever's developed due to, perhaps, some gait alteration
3. The calf muscles are not tight, but appear tight on examination due to a splinting like action due to the pain.
Which of these is the answer? ...I have no idea.
For the latest see Podiatry Arena on Severs Disease; or this video on calcaneal apophysitis on PodChatLive.
If you have Severs disease then it all comes down to managing the loads via modficiation of the activity and perhaps using a cushioned heel pad.
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