Keep An Eye On These Things That Can Affect Your Child’s Feet

Our feet are some of the most important parts of the body – they help us get from A to B every day!

When they are working well, it can be easy to forget about them, but when there is an issue or pain in the foot, boy can you notice it.

Now, while it can be easy to overlook your feet, it’s super important to maintain foot health at all stages of life, including when we’re kids.

There are many conditions that can affect the feet, some of which can cause long-term issues. So, if you have a child, make sure you keep an eye out for any of the following conditions that can affect the feet.

Your child is experiencing Growing Pains

Growing pains are unfortunately a normal part of growing up. Children grow incredibly fast, in the blink of an eye that can go from crawling to running around in the playground.

Children are constantly growing, sometimes growth spurts happen quickly, sometimes they will be more gradual, however, it’s always happening. The feet and legs are two areas where it is common to experience growing pains, as these are the parts of the body that carry around the body and support it.

If you notice your child going through a particular growth spurt, this might be a sign that they may be experiencing some growing pains to go along with the growth spurt. Make sure you talk to your child about any pains they may be experiencing, you may be able to help them manage the pain with gentle massages or stretching exercises.

If your child seems to be experiencing a lot of pain in their feet, you can always take them to a podiatrist to discuss this. There may be another cause of this pain, or your podiatrist may be able to offer advice and exercises to help decrease these pain levels.

Your child tends to walk on their toes

As kids get used to walking and moving more on their own, it’s normal for them to try all sorts of styles of walking, including walking on their tippy toes.

While this sort of behaviour is somewhat normal, if you notice that they spend a lot of time walking on their toes, and rarely touching their heels on the ground, it could be a sign of something else.

Toe walking can be a sign of developmental conditions and is often associated with cerebral palsy, autism, and muscular dystrophy. They might also be doing this because they are experiencing pain in their heels which can be a sign of Sever’s Disease, which affects the growth plate of the heel.

If your child spends a lot of time toe walking, a podiatrist can help by assessing their gait and physical behaviors.

Toe walking can also lead to pain and tightness in the calf muscles and feet, so if your child does this a lot, they may need help with managing this pain.

Your child walks pigeon toed

As your child is learning to walk it can be normal that they sometimes walk intoed or pigeon toed – they are learning how to control their bodies. However, if your child is almost always walking with their toes turning inwards, it can be a sign of an issue elsewhere in their body.

When people are pigeon toed it can be related to the hips, knees and/or feet. This can leave them feeling sorer than they would be if they weren’t pigeon toed.

To determine the cause of intoeing a podiatrist may observe your child as they play, and they may ask you questions relating to the birth conditions of your child, and developmental milestones.

Depending on the severity of the intoeing, it can be treated with exercises and stretching, changes in posture and stance, and even changes in footwear including the use of orthotics.

Your child trips over a lot

Let’s start off by saying that kids tripping over is normal. As they get overexcited, play, run around and generally move quite a lot, trips and falls will happen. However, if it happens a lot and they seem to be tripping for no particular reason it can be a sign of weak muscles or flexible joints that are not supporting the body properly.

Issues like this can often be mitigated through target exercises and strengthening programs.

Your child has ingrown toenails

Ingrown toenails are not too common in children but they can happen. There are many causes of ingrown nails including improper footwear that puts pressure on the nail, cutting the nail too short or incorrectly, and trauma to the nail. This trauma can be from dropping something heavy on it or stubbing it.

If your child is experiencing pain on or near any of their toe nails, it could be caused by an ingrown toenail, or another nail issue. A podiatrist can help diagnose these issues and treat them!

Your child has warts

Warts are totally normal for kids to get. They are caused by the human papillomavirus and easily spread. As kids spend a lot of time barefoot and in environments where warts thrive, such as swimming pools, it’s pretty common for your child to experience a wart or two in their lifetime.

As kids build up immunity, they will stop getting warts as they get older in most cases.

Most of the time warts are harmless and they will disappear by themselves. However, it is still best to have them checked out and possibly treated by a professional podiatrist.

Our feet are some of our most important body parts and when they aren’t working properly it can affect every other part of the body. That’s why it’s important to look after them and get into the habit of looking after our feet from a young age.

Book in to see a professional in the foot field, like a podiatrist to help manage the health of your child’s feet. If you’re in Melbourne’s North-East suburbs and looking for a Templestowe Podiatry Service, the experts at Watsonia Podiatry can help you.