Is it normal for an 8-year to walk on tip toes?

Question

My eight year constantly walks on her tip toes. Her balance is not too good, she has terrible trouble with things like roller skates and has a pair of heelys on which she has zero balance!
I am always screeching at her "heels" but the very next second she is back on her toes, when I tell her again, she looks down quite surprised. I made her stand with her feet flat down and she was a little unbalanced at first. have a doctors appointment on friday - but am a little worried now - does anybody have any thoughts?

Hi
Thanks for all your answers.
Am still quite concerned has she is complaining that when her feet are flat to the ground, then her ankle and backs of her legs are hurting. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, so hopefully he will put my mind at rest.
Will let you know.
Mum22

Answer 1

I did this from when I first learned to walk. My Mother took me to the GP's and they said it was a habit. I spent the next few years being told to walk on my heels, something that was painful for me to do.

I was told at the time that if you walk for a prolonged period on your toes it will be painful down the back of your legs to go on walk normally. Your tendons can be shortened by the habit so your daughter being in pain does not nessecerally mean she has dodgy tendons. If the problem has been formed though habit it is a lot easier to solve than if she was born with short tendons.

Eventually I was referred to a specialist who said it was more than likely I had always had short achilles tendons.

First the I was referred to physio to solve the problem. That didn't work.

Then they tried manipulating my feet to 90 degrees under general anaesthetic the idea being once my feet reached this angle (an angle they could not be made to sustain whilst I was conscious) they would set them in plaster for six weeks. They were unable to do this even under anaesthetic though.

When I was 10 they performed the op to lengthen my tendons. I was wheelchair bound for a number of weeks. I then had a growth spurt and the operation was "undone" as my tendons did not grow at the same rate as the rest of me.

I am now 25 and still walk on my toes, I have no flat shoes (even when pregnant I tottered round in 3 inch wedges) and my balance is perfect on my toes.

I was offered the op again at 19 but turned it down.

Recently I have started having back problems that I have been told are a result of my toe walking. It does concern me that as I get older I will suffer more (70 year old granny in 3 inch heels?!?)

My advice is to make sure you get it sorted, don't let them fob you off in anyway. It isn't the end of the world if she does have short tendons as there are a number of other treatments besides and operation that are available and will hopefully sort it out.

Answer 2

My daughter does this (still at 14) not all the time, but most the time. She's a girl and some chunky heels fixed that, but I guess you can't do that for a boy. lol Anyway, we never worried about it until we took her to a neurologist for other reasons and he said that her achilles (sp?) tendon was short b/c of the walking on her toes. So i would say, yes, go see a podiatrist and see what they can do if anything, before the problem gets worse. Because it can lead to problems. Not saying that it will, but better to know early than too late. Does he still walk on his toes in shoes? Shoes fixes the problem for my daughter (sneakers). So we do have her wearing shoes more often than before now. It's when she's barefoot that she goes to her toes. And fyi my daughter has learning disabilties. I dont' know if there's a connection.

Answer 3

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RE:
Is it normal for an 8-year to walk on tip toes?
My eight year constantly walks on her tip toes. Her balance is not too good, she has terrible trouble with things like roller skates and has a pair of heelys on which she has zero balance!
I am always screeching at her "heels" but the very next second she is back on her toes, when I...

Answer 4

I'm past 30 and I still do it! I don't think there's anything wrong with it, however, I would question her mental state. In my experience (in my life or with others I know that do this) the tendency to walk on your toes is to do with anxiety and worries. You might say, well, ok, what's an 8-year old got to be worried about? Well, nothing in particular but she may be a worrying type of person and might never grow out of it. But she could.

Answer 5

No it is not normal for an 8 year old to walk on their toes. She might have tight calf muscles,in which case they should be stretched (under supervision), or have flat shoes which are stiffened. She might need night splints to passivley stretch the calf muscle group.

I would get her checked by the GP. They would test her neurological responses to determine if their is a mild neurological condition.

Importantly, don't worry. She might have had a growth spurt and left the calf muscles temporarily short, in which case it would self resolve.

Answer 6

my grandson did exactly the same thing from when he learnt to walk, we didnt think to much of it at the time until a friend pointed out that someone she knew her child did the same thing and had to have an operation anyway we decided to take him to the docs who reffered him to the hospital, took a while for us to get it thru to them that something wasnt quite right, his feet are a strange shape in that the toes seem to point upwards when hes not on his feet, they eventually diagnosed him with achilles tendon which means the tendons at the back of his leg are tighter than normal, he has to do special exercises to help loosen it up and also he has to wear special insoles made especially for him. i know what you mean about the balance he sometimes falls over for no reason. dont be too hard on her when she walks on her tiptoes although she needs to get out of the habit, the doctors told us the reason he walks on his tiptoes is because it is more comfortable for him. hope this helps, and please let me know how you get on at the doctors, it tooks us long time for them to listen to us one doctor after another told us it was normal for his feet to be like this, in the end it was the physiotherapist that picked up on it. all the best.

Answer 7

How old are the heelys? In them you have to walk on your tip toes to avoid wheeling off.
Does she do ballet? If she dances alot it may have become a habit.
It's great that you're going to the doctor - good luck!

Answer 8

One of my grand daughters does the same thing, however, she does walk with her feet flat down also - it just depends on her mood at the time. I keep telling her father, my son, "maybe she will be a ballerina". I'm sure it's just a phase because she never did this a year ago.

Answer 9

One of my cousins used to do that. Probably up until she was about 10 and then she grew out of it. I don't think you should be too worried. But I think it's best if you find out from a doctor, because that's all the experience I have with it.

Answer 10

I dont think it is a bad thing my newph walks like that and i have a friend who has walked on her tip toes since she was 5 and now we are 17 so i think it is normal enough