Has anyone had a child who had to wear leg braces due to tip toe walking? My 6 yr old son has walked on his tip toes all of his life. My old pediatrician said he would outgrow it, but he never did. His new pedi recommended an orthopedic doctor. We went and did that and he's been wearing his braces for 1.5 weeks now. He wears them all night and most of the day. We were told this would re-train his brain so that he would stop toe walking. However, as soon as the braces are off, he's back on his toes again. I don't expect it to be automatic, but how long should it take? He is going for a PT evaluation tomorrow, and we'll learn some additional stretches to do, and he will start PT once a week, but that will mainly be for stretching and gait correction. I think overall, the braces will have the biggest impact on his treatment. TIA!
ETA: My son is not on the autism spectrum, his is classified as habitual toe walking. It has already caused him physical damage in that his Achilles tendons are shortened, so the braces are necessary. If we would have let it go longer, he probably would have needed hard casts on his legs instead of the braces. I was lucky that we switched to a more proactive pediatrician's practice (for this and many other reasons).
I would think it would take quite a while since his muscles have been trained for so long to walk like that it will take longer than a week to untrain them to walk like that.
idk, but he's got six years of "habit" to overcome, i would think it would prob end up taking several months - good luck! i bet his PT will be able to give you some insight on a timeline :)
my dd basically had a stroke on the side of her brain that controls the muscles of her left side. She toe walks on the left side only.
She wore a brace or AFO is what they called it, for about 3 yrs, in additon to therapy, it helped some, We also tried Botox injections to release the muscle-- in addition to putting her foot in a cast for month or so held in the correct positon. that helped but not enough, and her dr recommended surgery to cut her heelcord. she had that when she was 5 before kindergarten, and now at 7 she is completely back up on tiptoe again.
Realizing that her condition is probably completely different than your sons, and realizing that we just happened to get a dr that was very old and trained in surguery more so than alternate techniques probably played into it alot as well. So please don't freak out, I just wanted to offer you a glimpse of what other treatments there are.
I also looked into chiropractic care, but DD was being a pooh at the time and the one that was recommended to me was 45 mins away and wasn't worth the fight I'd like to try again though.
LONG LONG story short, even with the tip toing on the left side, she can ride a bike, run and jump rope, she plays soft ball and is very active. She can't do a cartwheel she just doesn't have the strenght or flexibility on the left side, and she has trouble swimming, we are goign to try some special one on one swim lessons for kids with special needs to see if that helps.
But even if all she can do is float and stand on her head, she'll be fine and live a happy productive life.
Participate in his therapy and they wil probably give you activities to do with him at home, and Do them, I know it's hard i sometimes don't but i really should.
anyhow good luck and pm me if i can help further.
You didnt say how old your son is, and he's only been wearing the braces for a week and a half. Give it more time.
No, we didn't do braces for my 5 yr old dd toe walker. The pedi orthopedic doc we saw at the children's hospital (when she was 4) did not suggest braces for her. We did PT twice a week and exercises at home for several months. When we saw the ortho again, she had greater mobility in the one ankle that did not have 100% range of motion so he said we were done. He literally said we could stop everything. She still toe walks. It is a habit for her now; physically she is normal. His perspective is that it will correct itself typically by age 10 in most kids. He said they used to do a lot more surgery and AFOs than they do now (but it depends on the range of motion issue they have and hers was not nearly large enough to warrant that).
I have a friend whose son did have the braces and PT. He's 8 and still on his toes, it didn't work for him. My dd doesn't have a neuro issue, she walked typically when she learned to walk and started toe walking later. She can walk correctly and runs normally.
I've always been a toe walker. I've mostly grown out of it. I still do it occasionally. Never been an issue.
I, personally, wouldn't worry so much about it.
If it's just a muscular issue, the braces and PT should work with time.
You didn't mention it, so I'll assume your son is not on the autism spectrum. Sometimes kids with ASD will toe walk because they need the stimulation they feel in their calves. Stretching and retraining the muscles won't correct that on it's own.
Even if he's not on the spectrum, he may actually LIKE the feeling of toe walking. So again, you'll need some correction of that beyond just the physical.
At 6 you can probably talk to him about it directly. My son (also 6) will toe walk when he's anxious. If you call his attention to it, though, he can stop, but he has to think about it.
HTH
T.
my husband is 35yrs old and never grew out of it, he doesnt walk on his toes as much as the top part of his feet, i noticed it when he is barefoot but when he has shoes on he walks normal ,my daughter who is 8yrs sometimes walks on her's and i say get off ur toes and she says i didnt know i was doing it, she has just watched her dad do it that its normal to her,,normal to all of us..but if your more comfortable with braces then do it, or wait and see if he grows out of it..
Toe walking is not always a habit.
Sometimes it is a symptom of something else. Is your child on the autism spectrum?
For some kids, walking barefoot helps. My ex's son (Aspergers) has slowly grown out of it.
