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victoria

Tiptoe walking

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Hi

 

Has anyone had any experience of what to do if their child tip toe walks. My 3 yr old asd son walks all the time on his tip toes and has done since he started walking (it looks really uncomfortable although he is developing great calf muscles!).

 

It does mean he is quite clumsy and tends to trip easily.

 

Not sure whether I should be getting it looked at, whether there is anything that can be done, or whether he'll just grow out of it.

 

thanks

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Hi

 

Some children can continue to tip-toe walk, and if that happens thay can develop problems with the tendons in the back of their legs which can mean it can become difficult to get their feet flat at a later stage. The treatment in usually shoes or insoles so your child has to walk with flat feet to prevent this happening.

 

Having said that my NT (as far as i know) tip toed for on and off forabout 1 year when in bare feetfor about 1 year and just stopped when about 3.

 

I would try to get it seen to to see if later problems can be avoided.

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Hi Victoria

My son has tip toe walked since he started walking (he's now 5). Like your boy he has amazing calf muscles and body builder thighs :lol:

He was given piedro boots (boots with a weighted metal plate in) at age 2 to try to bring his feet down. They haven't really worked just made his legs stronger. He now has a pair that are weighted and have a strap inside them to bring the foot down. He only wears them at school as not surprisingly he hates them.

I was told that it could cause him problems in the future something to do with his hips but to be honest his calf muscles are so stretched it's now uncomfortable for him to put his feet flat as sarah jane describes.

Most kids seem to grow out of this but my boy hasn't. Haven't come across many others who have this problem long term either.

A physio sees my son at school too re this.

:D

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:) hi my daughter who is 5 walks on her tip toes only when she has no shoes on when she has shoes on she doesnt walk tip toe they had a look at her legs to see if their was a problem why she was doing this but her legs were fine and the fact she didnt do it when she has shoes on they said they would leave her alone maybe if she would of done it with shoes on it would cause problems in the future i dont know but their is no harm in asking jenny

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My son used to walk like this all the time until he was 10. Doctor kept a check on the tendons at the back of his legs but otherwise told me to ignore it. He's now 13 and will often still walk like it.

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My sons chiropodist used to blame it on his flat feet before diagnosis, turns out he may have flat feet due to toe walking :wacko:

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My sons ankles were slightly turned in at birth but they said not to worry, then between 1-2yold his ankles used to get stuck in position say when in car for 10min journey when stopped and getting him out he couldn't unlock his ankle it would wear off eventually though seen doctor 3 times then referral to hospital consultant when we insisted. he said he was a bit pigeon toed but nothing to worry about I told him he walked on his toes alot but he said all kids that age do (think he was about 3 by this time) then well nursery noticed behaviours I hadn't etc and we were sent for an assessment for autism at 3.5yo where he saw alot of different specialties and the physiotherapist said his feet were markedly flat and referred us to orthotics dept who, oops somewhere in the middle of this happening he had hurt his knee and had complained on several occasions of knee pain kinda unusual he doesn't let pain bother him v.much at all, anyway due to toe walking, very flat feet and knee pain he wears ankle foot orthoses, AFO's, or commonly called splints I thought we'd get little shoe inserts so it was kinda shocking at first, when I asked she told me people don't get an adult walking gait until about 14 yrs old maybe longer and he would have to wear them as much as possible every day until at least that age and would most probably always need shoe inserts of some kind. the last fitting we had she made little half size cup inserts he could wear if he became very reluctant to wear the full splints ie embarrsed at gym etc but to wear full splints as much as possible as the cups don't stop the toe walking he likes to show me that he can actually get on to his toes in the splints only as they get to

small for him, hes a cheeky one that way, sometimes I think the toe walking has stopped but then I notice if not wearing splints he's back up on them again especially when agitated or excited. He was finally diagnosed as having an autistic spectrum disorder at 4.5yo. He choses the splints nearly every time I give him the choice between them or cups he has to sit on a chair as kneeling isn't very easy which makes him stand out a bit at assemblies, he usually leaves in the middle of those anyway, circle time etc we are currently getting no where fast with learning to ride a bike I've tried with splints cups and just shoes but wether its co ordination or leg weakness he just can't get it to go on anything other than completely flat smooth ground and whilst trying so hard to turn pedals he forgets to steer he's almost 6 now just finishing primary one which has been a roller coaster year to say the least. It's hard watching the younger kids round here zoom around the streets on their bikes wiithout stabilisers or anything but I'm sure we'll get there :)

oops there i go again rambling on sorry

my advice ask to see someone in orthotics or physiotherapy don't let them shue you away I feel I did don't know if it woulda made a difference but u never do know is the problem, doctors are only human esp GP's they can make very grave errors indeed

 

Lorraine

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we get immediate (but idiosyncratic) success using visual methods (in research). Mechanism is unclear though.

 

check whether it is different in low lighting, if so e mail me

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