Ds (4.9) has low muscle tone and unusual feet - small but very fat, and kind of flipped outwards (this is likely to be due to a genetic disorder). He can walk, but struggles with mobility, has an unsteady gait and tires easily. he often uses a sn buggy. He also has mild hip dyplasia, and this combined with low tone in his trunk, causes him to walk with a sort of swivel, it also leaves him vulnerable to partial subluxations.
Up until 7 months ago he always wore piedro boots, but his physio decided to try orthotics, as she hopes that will encourage muscle strength.
We have struggled with finding shoes to fit the orthotics and his unusual feet, the first boots we found fitted well, and had a zip up the side. Unfortunately as his feet roll in quite considerably, the zips broke. I bought a pair of shoes last week as an emergency measure, and the only shoes in the shop that would fit him - unfortunately they are quite shallow, so ds keeps taking the orthotic out (and hiding them!) to make them fit better.
I phoned the orthotic department today and their advice was to buy some cheap shoes, they recommend Asda, as they make quite roomy shoes, and to try and get a boot style.
The other thing is that he is falling more frequently, 2 or 3 times a day, he has started limping, and being reluctant to climb the stairs. Today he fell at school and split his head, and cut his nose. He complains of a pain in his knee that looks swollen. Dh also thinks that leg feels stiff there has always been an intermittent stiffeness to his leg, which we have never got to the bottom of) I have tried to call his physio (3 times and an email) but she has not got back to me.
I am hoping she is going to call on Mon, and in the meantime I am going to try and keep him from putting too much weight on the leg which is obviously causing him trouble.
My gut feeling is that he still needs the Piedros for the support. Has anyone else had any similar problems with regards to orthotics?
Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.
SN children
low muscle tone/feet problems/lots of falls - orthotics or Piedros?
hazeyjane · 17/04/2015 20:30
Dd3 is hypermobile in all her joints and she wears orthotics with kicker boots. she has shortened her achilles tendon through tip toe walking!
The podiatrist is altering her orthotics with wedges to try to improve her gait , I dont know if it is working but now she is complaining of pain in her hip and lower back 
Phone call on Monday! To the podiatrist and the GP!
Hope you can get sorted, the falling is awful Dd3 still falls with orthotics but not as much as without them!
I have the same issues with dd her actual foot measures H width add in the orthotic and its off the scale I can usually find trainers that fit, she has adidas just now and they are perfect. I look for nice deep school shoes all year and if they look good just buy wether she needs them or not.
I find asda too shallow, have had some nice canvas styles from primark in the past but I'm not sure what they are like for boys.
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