Foot Seas Podiatry
A common problem that we as Podiarist seen in our office is children with flat feet. This can often be seen with the children intoeing or out-toeing. The flattening of the arch in a child’s foot can cause pain, incoordination, fatigue, and a decrease in activity level.
A flatfoot deformity as well as intoeing and out-toeitng is easily recognized. Watching the child walk will demonstrate that the arch in the middle of the foot disappears, or in the case of intoeing in out-toeing the feet are deviated to the inside or out. The difficult aspect is diagnosing the cause of flattening, intoeing or out-toeing. The deformity can occur anywhere from the lower back to the hips and knees or to the foot and ankle itself. The other question arises in whether the problem will fix itself as the child grows. Children are not fully skeletally mature until their late teens. This means that the bones are constantly growing and changing their angular relationship. In some cases deformities are so severe that surgical intervention is required. However, in the majority of cases, simply bracing or having the child where orthotics will cure the problem.
Orthotics will keep the bones in the feet and proper alignment. As the child grows the bones will adjust and realign into a more normal alignment.
One concern when parents consider orthotics is that the child will grow out of them too quickly.In these cases there is an alternative. The recently developed ‘Little Steps’ are prefabricated orthotics for children. They come in seven sizes and accommodate children from toddlers to teenagers. We have started utilizing Little Steps in our practice and have had extremely good results. Along with correcting the deformities listed above the pediatric orthotics can increase coordination, decreased pain, and increased desire to play sports.
If your child begins to have a problem with his or her feet often times it can be solved very quickly. Children are very resilient and often by eliminating the causing force the child will feel immediate relief.