05 Nov Still waiting for your child to grow out of tip toe waking 🤔

Have you been told that your child will grow out of toe walking once they are walking confidently, but they haven’t 😳

Did you know that foot bones become ossified (fully solid and developed) by 5 years old and bones grow in the direction of pull of muscles 🧐 That means if your child is walking on their tip toes from 12-18 months, they are causing their foot 🦶 bones to develop abnormally. By the time they are 5 years and older, the foot bones will have changed shapes and will remain that way for the rest of their lives. 😳

So it’s not uncommon to see children who have been tip toeing have a bone that sticks out more on the top of their foot, making it hard to find shoes 👟that will fit them. Walking on tip toes also results is tight short calf muscles, 🦵knee pain and back pain in school aged children.

Tip toe walking also leads to delayed gross motor skills as these children will not be able to jump, hop, skip or even run without losing their balance and falling over. 😞As a result, children who tip toe walk often end up being excluded from games and sports at school, as they struggle to keep up with the other children.

The 🥳 good news is, tip toe walking can be corrected when treated early. Here at My Favourite Physio, our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists 🤓see many children with tip toe walking ranging as young as 18 months old to 13 years old. We use a variety of techniques including casting, Radial Shockwave Therapy, customised shoes, orthotics, Dictus Bands and Treadmill training to correct tip toe walking. The best outcomes are when children 👶🏻are seen early before the foot bones are ossified at 5 years old, so that we can ensure normal bone development.

So if you have a little one 👧who is tip toe walking, don’t wait until their foot bones have changed shape to do something about it. Ring My Favourite Physio 📱on (02) 9790 4233 to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists 🤓today! Or PM us on Facebook and Instagram @myfavouritephysio.

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