My son curves in his left foot while walking. Doctor's not worried, should I be?

Question

My son is 15 months old, he started walking at 11 1/2 months. Since he started walking we have been bringing the fact that my son left foot curves in while he walks. This usally causes him to trip over his own foot. Most of the time he falls down hard. His doctor told us that it is normal for this age to be pigeoned toed and walk slightly off balance. Im concered along with my husband and mother. It's very noticible and people make comments to me about his foot. Just because his doctor's not concered i'm worried we'll learn somethings wrong to late to be corrected. So should I be concered or seek another opinion? She said that he probally has a weak ankle and we will watch it and recheck at 18 months. That is the same thing she told us at his 1 year appt. We would recheck at 15 months. Again she said she wasn't worried and thought that an othropedic appt wasn't needed.

Answer 1

ask for a referral to a physical therapist. from there you can get a referral to a ortho if you need one. the physical therapist will determine if there is a weakenss or a structural difference. if its a weakness then you can work on it (stretches/ exercises) with the therapist and if its structural, then an ortho will be recomemneded for braces/ surgery/ whatever else. most physical therapsits have orthos that they work with along with to coordinate the therapies

Your state should have free therapy services (occupational, physical and speech therapy) for children uner the age of three in your home or his day care. check with your pediatrician and demand a referral for a physical therapist or to the free state services (in SC they are called BabyNet). i would also consider searching for another pediatrician. if the dr isnt listening to your concerns and giving the "lets make sure, just in case- better safe than sorry" attitude, that is troublesome.

good luck

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Our son has an actual club foot - a mild case, and does this same type of thing. He was in casts until 6months, and braces until 18 months. It still mildly curves in when he walks and runs, and does also trip when running. What our pediatric orthodpedist told us, at our yearly check-up - just last week. Was that not much is done at this age - our son is 3, because they know how to get the braces off, so have little luck in treating kids that way.

The other things we should try to do, are wear supportive shoes - not crocs and sandals. Some even recommend a right shoe on the left foot. We also have signed our son up for hockey as both that boot, and learning to balance that foot on the skate with help to strenthen those muscles.

However with our appt, we also had x-rays, and the whole round of tests, to rule out anything else. Things they looked for was if he could stand on tiptoes, walking and running, and also encouraged stretching and strengthening of that foot - Im seriously considering a dance class also.

Answer 4

My daughter was like that at her age. She is 2 now, and for the longest time it bothered me the way she walked BC I didn't want her to have any impairments. But both of her legs bowed out while she walked and she started walking about the same about as your son. I thought I always pushed her to walk to soon. But the Dr. said that it was normal, and she did grow out of it so Praise the Lord for that. I would give it some time for his bones to straighten up,and get stronger. My pediatrician said that if she was still walking like that when she turned 2 then she would send us to a specialist. But we didn't have to do that Thank God. So just keep an eye on it for the next 8 months and see what your doctor says.

Answer 5

My son was born with a club foot and after surgery he too has a curve to it. He has to wear shoes at night that are attached together with a bar. He has to wear this until he is 4. I hear that having a curve in the foot at that age is normal but if you are worried about it I agree with Florida Gal! If you are in the Chicago area, Dr. Diaz is the BEST!!!

Answer 6

Bring your son to a foot doctor... even if it is nothing to worry about, it's always nice to know for sure. I too had a curved foot when I walked too ad a baby(my left also), the bones in my foot pushed outwords... sort of forming a "c". It caused alot of pain and discomfort growing up, but I walk fine.

Answer 7

My youngest son started walking at around 7 months of age and due to a hip rotation problem, his left foot was turned inward. Our doctor sent him to an orthopedic doctor, who placed my son in a hip brace that he had to sleep in. It straightened out the hip gradually with out having to go through surgery and now you can't tell there was ever a problem!
I would REQUEST from your doctor a referral to another doctor as soon as possible. The sooner your baby is examined the better for you and the baby to rule out any problems.

Answer 8

My daughter was the same with both her feet and because she was still under 2 yrs, my Dr suggested buying a cheap tennis shoe, cut the top toe section out and put them on the wrong feet.
I felt better knowing I was doing something until she was older and did out-grow the pigeoned. She's 35 now and still walks fine.

Answer 9

worry is an evolutionary habit conditioned into clever existence. devoid of worry, animals would not comprehend the drawing near threat of a predator or different aggressive animal. With too plenty worry, animals would not be waiting to calm down for a appropriate meal devoid of being spooked via some thing. So, to respond to your question, worry is an particularly organic, environmentally-conditioned reaction to stimuli.

Answer 10

listen to ur parental instincts !!!! when my son was little he would walk that way and i kept hearing that he was fine but i knew something wasnt right so i took him to dr after dr and i finally found one that would listen it took almost 3 yrs to find out he had perthes disease it will make them walk strange on their foot and fall alot just got one ? though which leg is it? its usually the left leg with perthes (its a ditiration of the hip bone and when it starts growing back it doesnt grow back correctly which will cause them to walk and limp and ets hope this was some help