15 Mar Been told that your child 👧 needs to wear Good Shoes 👟 to help correct their foot posture 🤔Wondering how long does your child need to have good shoes for

Foot bones have primary ossification centers where the bones start forming as early as 2 months gestational age, and secondary ossification centers which appear later, after birth from 6 months old and then eventually these bone centers fuse with the lower leg bone. The bones in the midfoot (where the foot arches are) and the hindfoot (heel of the foot) mainly develop from 3 months gestational age to 5 years old and the heel bone has a secondary ossification center that appears at 5-12 years before fusing completely at 12-22 years old.

When children stand or walk with their feet turned in or turned out or ankles that roll in collapsing their mid foot arches, their foot bones will then develop and grow in the direction of muscle pull on the foot bones. This means that a child’s foot bones can form incorrectly, and after 5 years old, it becomes very hard, if not impossible to re-shape the foot bones. That’s why our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists always recommend little ones to wear good shoes that provide good arch support, especially in the first 5 years of their life.

After 5 years old, it is still important to always wear Good Shoes to provide support to our foot arches, absorb shock from each step as we walk and run which prevents pain in our feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back. As adults, having poor fitting shoes will result in our joints wearing out sooner, foot arches collapsing and the development of bunions and heel spurs.

So the key to a lifetime of good foot health is good shoes from the moment a child learns to stand up and walk. Good Shoes are shoes that have good foot arch support, firm heel counter and soft flexible rubber soles. If your child is wearing good supportive shoes at least 90% of the time, it’s okay to wear “pretty shoes” for a party occasionally.

If you are concerned about your child’s foot posture, ring My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today!