Sever's disease, or Calcaneal Apophysitis, is a common condition affecting children. It has been examined at a review level at best since first being described in 1907. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of a group of children with Sever's disease with a non-symptomatic group of children of similar age. This prospective study had two main objectives. Firstly, to examine issues which had been anecdotally raised in the literature over the years; secondly, to determine the quality of life effects on children with Sever's disease. / A literature review of Sever's disease articles was undertaken to identify what was known, and what was surmised about the disease. The literature was also reviewed to allow selection of the correct tools to determine if there were any differences between the two groups of children. Issues such as reliability and validity as well as suitability of questionnaires were examined and justified from the literature. / Several areas arose which the literature did not adequately cover, including the reliability of foot measures, validity of a new measure - the Foot Posture Index, and a reliable and valid way to measure the dorsiflexion of the foot on the leg. Experiment 1 established that the intra rater reliability of the measurements to be used in Experiment 4 was good, but that the inter rater reliability was poor to moderate. Experiment 2 investigated the criterion validity of four components of the foot Posture Index, a new measurement that was to be used in Experiment 4, concluding that gross movements could be shown, but not subtle foot position changes. Experiment 3 developed equipment for the measurement of ankle joint dorsiflexion, another parameter to be measured in Experiment 4, and established that the intra and inter rater reliability of this apparatus was excellent. / Experiment 4 involved the gathering of data relating to Body Mass Index, activity, foot posture, traditional foot measures, ankle joint dorsiflexion and quality of life from the two aforementioned groups. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the odds ratios of various factors for the Sever's disease and non-Sever's disease group. The only significant differences between the groups were in quality of life scales and in forefoot to rearfoot determination. The implications of these findings are discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 13, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.