Hi Mama's-
Our son just turned 4 in December and last week at his wellness check I brought up his 'toe walking' with our Ped. He walks on his toes when he's running mostly, but other times as well. Since he's now 4 and prob not going to outgrow it the Ped has ref'd us to an Ortho.
I'm expecting PT, shoe inserts or leg braces? I'm interested in others experiences. Thank you!
I was a toe-walker as a kid, and I never had braces or anything like that. However, toe walking did cause my muscles to be shorter than they were supposed to be, and I went to PT to learn how to stretch. Also, I had many ankle sprains growing up [including a couple that were bad enough to need a cast even though there were no broken bones] and generally had 'weak' ankles, which the doc said was all from toe walking.
My cousin has a child that does that and was sent to physical therapy. I noticed at our family Christmas Party that she is not doing it quite as much as before.
Both of my girls do/did this. We did PT for the older one along with shoe inserts, and the younger one we caught in time and I can do the PT with her at home.
The problem with Toe walking is that it shortens the cords in the back of the legs which then causes pain in the heel and foot. Trust me been to the Dr. a lot for this. If you keep up with the therapy it helps a lot, but it is a struggle with us to get our oldest to do her exercises.
The younger one I just do while we are playing or cuddling and she is fine for now. You can start on your own by googling leg exercises for heel pain.
Are there any other behavioral issues that are of concern? Toe walking past the 3rd birthday can be a sign of other developmental issues. My cousin was treated at age 3 with PT and it took 6-12 months to see him walking consistently with his whole foot, but he had other issues as well so I don't think the toe walking was the biggest priority and not what they spent the most time on. Frankly, I was stunned that my aunt had no idea that her son had issues...it was obvious to everyone but her and her son's pediatrician.
If you have any concerns about behavior or development...see a behavioral pediatrician ASAP so that you can get started on interventions now, which can make a huge difference at this age.
My mom is a toe walker and the best thing for her has been physical therapy.
I was a toe walker when I was a kid and 2 of my 6 children walk on their toes about half of the time. My mom and pediatrician were worried about it, but never referred me to anyone for PT...but that was 30+ years ago. I don't walk on my toes as an adult. I'm not worried about my toe walking children. What is the harm? All I can figure is it really made me have super strong calf muscles. Unless it is causing some sort of stunting/disformation to his development, I wouldn't worry about it. Just my 2 cents.
is there a shriner's hospital near you? they will do a free assessment and if treatment is needed, will also do that for free.
Any other symptoms? Mannerisms? Behaviors that might be considered unusual?
Just had my daughters at the Dr. and I mentioned that one of them does it a little bit... he mentioned (and I was aware) that it is connected to development issues.
If it is all the time, etc. I would also have him checked out neurologically for other potential issues.
Toe walking can be linked to non-physical issues like Autism spectrum disorders or dysfunction of sensory integration, which is why my son toe-walked. We went through 3 years of OT for sensory integration disorder which helped a lot but did not fix the toe walking. My son outgrew it over time but still does it here and there (he is almost 13). He is athletic and has developed normally.
