If your child has started limping after football training or complaining that their heels hurt after running around, you are not imagining things. Heel pain in children is one of the most common conditions we see at our Stillorgan and Dublin 11 clinics. It can be worrying when your active child suddenly cannot keep up … Read more
That sharp stab in your heel when you get out of bed is hard to ignore. Patients from Blackrock and the surrounding areas describe it the same way: fine once moving, agony for those first few steps. This morning heel pain pattern is the hallmark of plantar fasciitis, and it affects thousands of people across … Read more
Those painful splits in your heels are more than just a summer sandal problem. If you live in Ranelagh or anywhere across South Dublin, you have probably tried every cream on the pharmacy shelf without lasting results. The frustration is real. You moisturise daily, yet the cracks return within weeks. The truth is that most … Read more
Watching your child limp off the football pitch or complain about sore heels after school is worrying. Parents in Glasnevin and across North Dublin often tell us they have tried rest, new runners, and waiting it out. But the pain keeps coming back. Heel pain in children is extremely common, especially between ages 8 and … Read more
Those rough, split heels are more than a cosmetic problem. If you live in Glasnevin or the surrounding areas of North Dublin, you have probably noticed cracked heels getting worse during colder months or after summer sandal season. The skin feels tight. Walking barefoot hurts. Deeper cracks may even bleed. You are not alone. Cracked … Read more
Your child comes home from football training limping. They say their heel hurts, but they cannot explain why. If you are a parent in Glasnevin or anywhere across North Dublin, this scenario probably sounds familiar. Heel pain in active children is surprisingly common, especially between ages 8 and 14. The good news is that it … Read more
That sharp stab in your heel when you get out of bed is hard to ignore. For patients across Blackrock and South Dublin, this is often the first sign that something is wrong with the plantar fascia. The frustrating part is that the pain seems to ease after a few minutes of walking, only to … Read more
Most people describing heel pain lead with where it hurts and how badly.
Both are useful. But there’s a third piece of information that’s often more revealing than either, and it usually goes unmentioned: when it hurts, and how it behaves across a day.
Different causes of heel pain follow genuinely different daily patterns. Once you know which pattern is yours, the field of likely explanations narrows considerably.
You have tried the creams. You have used the foot files. Maybe you even bought one of those electric heel grinders from the chemist. And yet every few weeks, your heels are back to square one — rough, dry, and splitting open again. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Cracked heels are one … Read more
It usually starts the same way. Your child limps off the pitch, or complains going up the stairs after training, or asks to skip a session. By the next morning they seem fine, so nobody thinks much of it.
Then it happens again the following week. And the week after.
Heel pain in an active child aged roughly eight to fifteen is most commonly a condition called Sever’s disease, or calcaneal apophysitis. The name sounds alarming and the condition isn’t. But it does need managing properly, because the alternative is a child who quietly stops enjoying their sport.
Here’s what’s actually going on and what to do about it.
