3.5yr old toe walking - anyone offer advice?

[snowydrops]

DD1 walks on her toes most of the time. I've taken her to the docs who referred her to the hospital. They checked her and said there is no physical reason but it is habitual. We do physio exercised (DH found online) every evening but it's not made a difference. We and nursery constantly remind her but she still does it most of the time.

The hospital advised us to come back in six months (3 months from now) if it continued and they will put a caste on both of her legs

Obviously we want to avoid this! Has anyone found any shoes that can help?? We bought her some boots (velcro) but it didn't improve at all. Can anyone suggest a good shoe / anything else we can try?

Thanks

Does it matter? I mean why does it need to be corrected? I know it's sometimes considered to be an indicator of other things (although there seems to be some disagreement on that) but is the toe walking itself a problem?

I don't know how relevant it is but I found something about visual/vestibular issues online, and correcting it using prism lenses whatever they are.

I think it was on Autism.com, this doesn't mean your child has autism but a lot of kids who do, walk in this manner so it is a good place to look for information. Hold on will find link

here

Explains about the cast thing too.

Our dd is the same age and has been toe walking since she could walk. Doctor at osteopathic hospital said by this point although it was idiopathic she has been doing it so long her Achilles tendons have actually shortened so she isn't able to walk more than a few steps properly before she goes back to her toes again - he said no amount of reminding to walk properly will help now. We are waiting for physio and possibly casts

Reading up about idiopathic toe walking there does seem to be some disagreement from professionals on whether or not toe walking is actually a problem that needs to be fixed. However there are also quite a few stories from now-adult toe walkers who now have aches and pains or have had to have Achilles surgery because their toe walking wasn't treated in childhood.

Like you I don't like the idea of my dd in casts, but I wonder if it's a case of short term 'pain' for longer term gain. I'm also hopeful if it is done this young it'll be better as less potential for self consciousness or feeling 'different' in casts compared to other kids than If she was older or at school.

My DD did this. She did have a medical reason for it but I expect the advice re shoes will be the same: make sure shoes are as flat as possible - no heel at all if possible. Also no flip flops or shoes that don't fit securely and support the whole foot properly. (No ballet styles or plimsoll styles). DD mostly had trainer style shoes.

Does she do kiddies ballet? This can encourage a sort of pointy toe thing which reinforces the toe walking - our physio discouraged it. Apart from that we had physio and encouraged a lot of swimming and cycling type activity but I cant tell you if this actually helped. But swimming is good exercise anyway! DD walks okay now - slight limp but as I say we had some other medical background. She didn't have casts.

When DD was older (junior school) we had these things fitted in her shoes - sensory orthotic insoles which stimulate her feet so she can feel the whole foot and it sort of reminds her it is there if that makes sense. I don't know if you can get them for very young children as they probably grow out of them so quickly. DD has to get new ones every six months or so (she is now 13).

Thank you, this is really interesting and useful.

She's not autistic and apparently it's just habit but the reason it needs to be corrected is partly because after time toe walkers develop short tendons which can be painful. Also I think it's a bit dangerous, she is often falling over as she's dancing around on her toes so to speak.

She does do ballet, she loves it so it may be hard for me to stop that but I could do from summer onwards when the class ends.

Apparently if they have the casts when young they cope very well with them and it's nowhere near as bad as parents fear buy I've also heard that it sometimes doesn't work which means a lot of annoyance for no gain.

We haven't been offered physio or insoles as yet.