Ruth Howard explains why young people who take part in physical activities can experience posterior heel pain and how the condition can be managed

Posterior heel pain is a common emergency department presentation involving children, especially those who have recently gone through growth spurts. One of the main causes of such pain is Sever’s disease, an inflammation of the calcaneal apophysis due to the repeated traction of the Achilles tendon on its insertion site. The aim of this article is to review the literature and to discuss the aetiology, diagnosis and management of Sever’s disease.