Per Ollgaard, the founder of Solemaids, insoles designed specifically for children suffering from Sever's disease.
Solemaids alleviate heel pain by removing pressure from the rear of the heels using a wedge. This causes the heels to "float," providing much-needed relief to children suffering from this condition. The insoles are made from high-quality materials and are designed to fit snugly into a child's shoe, ensuring maximum comfort and support.
Per's passion for feet and running related injuries led him to develop Solemaids more than 20 years ago which he is still supplying from his in-house workshop – despite a global reach. This interview turned out to be a great conversation about what it takes as a therapists to develop and support a clinical product globally. Of course we also dug into the incidence, trajectory and impact of Sever’s and the research!
Per’s approach is systematic, thoughtful and insightful - and his relatively straight forward solution to this sometimes life-interrupting issue is something we should all have access too.
Enjoy!
For handy links to things we've discussed in this interview, scroll down to the Resources Section at the bottom of the page.
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Podcast Highlights
Time Stamps in green
03:46 minutes- Developing the insoles 3
06:38 minutes- What's in a name?
07:29 minutes- Research in Sever's disease
09:10 minutes- The clinical picture
12:48 minutes- Treatment vs management
13:32 minutes- Incidence of Sever's
16:39 minutes- The trajectory of sever's and solemaids
18:50 minutes- Returning to sport
19:42 minutes- Sever's and biomechanics
21:45 minutes-Data collection
25 :29 minutes- The trajectory of sever's
25:56 minutes- Quality and fidelity
27:34 minutes-Training for therapists
30:05 minutes- Developing a clinical product to market
33:19 minutes- Delivering on the whole package
36:16 minutes- Why rest is a bad idea for growing kids
39:24 minutes- Practicalities and tolerance
41:03 minutes- More than just a physical issue
WEBSITE: https://solemaids.com/
Resources:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solemaids/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/per-%C3%B8llgaard-a7019b58/
Youtube: https://youtu.be/agFLWnydeZE?t=1361
Articles:
The Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire for Children (OxAFQ-C)
From Health Outcomes
The Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire for Children (OxAFQ-C) is a child – or parent (proxy)-reported self-report health status PRO.
Background The The Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire for Children (OxAFQ-C) is used to measure subjective well-being for child patients (aged 5-16) affected by foot and ankle conditions using issues that are considered important to children. Typical clinical assessments fail to capture the child patient’s perspective and may not accurately reflect how children function in their usual environments. The OxAFQ-C was therefore designed to supplement clinical assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for ankle/foot problems in children.
The OxAFQ-C is rapidly gaining acceptance as the PRO of choice for assessing the impact of ankle/foot conditions in children for the following reasons: It is the only PRO available assessing the impact of ankle foot issues on children from both the child and parent/caregivers perspective; The OxAFQ-C has broad utility both in routine clinical settings or applied research comparing different treatment programmes used in paediatric orthopaedics, trauma and rheumatology; A short (15-item) questionnaire that has proven to be easy to complete and returns high completion rates; Has been proven to be a valid and reliable (Morris et al 2008) as well as being responsive and longitudinally valid (Morris et al 2009).
