irish dancer foot pain

[Reeldancer]

My 15 year old daughter is an irish dancer, she has had pain on outside of her left foot below the shin bone for over 8 months now, after months of trying to find out what was causing pain she finally had mri scan which showed up micro fracture in heel, she stopped dancing for 8 weeks and rested the foot, she has now returned to dancing but feels the pain is still there, she has had no major injuries or to her foot, she has tight calf muscles and would dance 3/4 nights a week - any ideas if why this has not resolved itself?? any help of suggestion greatly appreciated

[icarus]

Hi,

If the MRI scan showed no further issues and your daughter has rested it for that long then it should continue to improve. My immediate thoughts are her dance shoes. I would imagine that the shoes she wears are pretty hard? I also think that going straight back into high impact work 3/4 times per week is going to be a bit of a shock to the foot even if it was fully healed (I dont know but I'm guessing she doesnt feel that pain unless she is dancing?) Biomechanically where the micro-tear was sustained will be caused by her unique way of moving/dancing as its a point of natural stress. As she returns to dancing she should do it gradually (you didnt say but I'm guessing she wont have even tried her shoes on up until this point) and sports massage would definitely be of benefit. You stated her calf muscles are very tight? If they are too tight then they will not be able to work effectively and may not be able to absorp as much of the impact as they normally would. This will place additional stress on the underlying structures. Personally, if you came to see me I would start with sports massage and (after having a look at her dance shoes) possibly some insoles to reduce the impact. There is more that we'd be check and go into but this would be a good starting point