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Children's Foot Problems |
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Information for health professionals |
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Parents can worry about their child's
teeth, eyes, but may not give as much concern to the developing
foot. |
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The Child's Foot: |
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The human foot is a
very complicated part of the body and the feet of young children
are soft and pliable, so abnormal pressures can easily cause the
foot to deform. The foot of a child grows rapidly during the first
year, reaching almost half their adult foot size. That first year
can be very important in the development of the feet. |
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Foot pain in the child: |
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Foot pain and symptoms in children is not common compared to adults due to the flexibility and resilience of the tissues. Ingrown toenails can occur and will probably need treatment. Non-specific growing pains in the leg are a common complaint of children, often causing a deep ache like leg pain during the night. There are some specific causes of growing pains, especially in the heel, called Sever's disease or calcaneal apophysitis and at the knee, where its called Osgood-schlatters disease. Clubfoot is a relatively rare deformity at birth that may still cause problems in later life after correction. Feet that sweat profusely or have a smelly odor can also be a problem in the older child. |
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Flat foot in the child: |
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Flexible flatfoot
or a pronated foot in children is
usually painless in young children, but may cause an ache, especially
if the child is overweight or older. In the very young child, there
is often a 'fat pad' in the arch area of the foot which gives an
appearance of a flat foot, when it is not. If the foot also rolls
inward at the ankle (pronates), then this may be cause for concern.
In the majority of cases, most will grow out of it, but some do
not. Treatment with foot orthotics
are indicated if its severe, causing symptoms and if both parents
have flat feet, as this indicates that
they may be less likely to grow out of it. More information, aimed
at health professionals on flat foot in children is here. |
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Importance of footwear |
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Many adult foot problems
can have their origins in childhood, so attention to footwear in
children can minimize the risk of these problems in adults. Poorly
fitting children's shoes can cause a number of problems in adults.
Given the high level of pain and discomfort that these problems
can cause, it is obviously logical to attempt to prevent these problems
by ensuring that the child's shoe is fitted appropriately. Foot
problems in children are usually preventable by correctfitting
footwear. |
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In-toe and out-toe walking in children: |
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In-toeing means that the foot ot feet points inwards instead of
pointing straight ahead when walking. A common problem with children
with in-toeing is that they can trip more often than other children.
Most will probably outgrow the condition naturally. If in-toeing
does persistent or is causing problems, special shoes, stretching
exercises or other treatments could be needed. By about age 2, most
children walk with their feet pointing straight ahead or slightly
outward. Parents or other family members often worry about the way
a child walks. By age 2, most kids will walk with their toes pointed slightly outward. If the feet angle is excessively outwards, this is called out-toeing. It is not as common as in-toeing, but in most cases, it is also just part of normal development. Often just reassurance is needed if a child is out-toeing or in-toeing, with treatment reserved for the persistent and severe cases. Sometimes the in-toeing and out-toeing does put abnormal pressures on the foot structure and function, so special shoes or foot supports may be required to protect the foot. |
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Metatarsus Adductus |
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Some infants are born with feet that can bend inwards from the middle of the feet to the toes - called metatarsus adductus. It usually improves on its own without treatment. If the child reaches about 6 to 9 months and the condition is not improving special corrective shoes or casts are often recommended. Other articles on metatarsus adductus are in ePodiatry's database. A good book, called Is
Your Child Walking Right?: Parents Guide to Little Feet is
available with more information on walking or gait problems in children. |
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Toe walking in children: |
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Toe walking (equinus
gait) is usually normal in children, especially if they are just
beginning to learn how to walk and everything else is normal. However,
it can be a sign of a condition that needs further investigation
(especially if the ankle joint range of motion is limited). Most
cases of toe-walking are just a habit and the child will grow out
of it. Toe walking can be caused by neuromuscular conditions, such
as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, leg length differences,
spinal cord abnormalities and achilles tendon shortness. If its
a mild shortness, stretching exercises and/or physical therapy may
be necessary. If the toe walking is more severe or persistent, then
consideration needs to be given to casting, botox injections or
surgery. All cases of toe walking should be evaluated to rule out
the causes other than just habit. |
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Podiatry and children: Podopaediatrics or podopediatrics: |
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It may pay for a child to be seen by a podiatrist if:
Podopaediatrics or podopediatrics (depends which country you are in as to how its spelt) is the speciality within podiatry that deals with childrens feet. |
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Links of relevance to the child's foot problem: |
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Heel pain in the child (Sever's disease) ePodiatry's resources on foot problems in children Ask a question in the foot health forum about childrens foot problems |
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Buy products for a foot problem in the child: |
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USA & Canada: |
UK & Europe: | Australia & NZ: |
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Coming | |
Return to foot
problems page or foot pain page |
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ePodiatry is purely
a source of information about a foot problem, arch support, flat
foot, foot pain, toe walking in children and should at no time be
considered as replacing the expertise of a health professional.
We recommend seeking professional advice for all foot problems before
embarking on any form of self treatment or management, especially
on problems related to podopediatrics (podopaediatrics). Neither
the content or any other service provided through ePodiatry is intended
to be relied on for medical diagnosis or treatment. Do not delay
in seeking health professional advice because of something seen
on ePodiatry. |
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©2004. The
information contained on this page about foot problems in children
(arch support, flatfoot, toe walking) is subject to copyright. No
part of the information about podopaediatrics or podopediatrics
contained on this page can be reproduced in any form without the
permission of ePodiatry. |
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Children's Foot Problems |
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