These childrens' walking patterns are often termed "rotational deformities" which often cause parents to seek the opinion of podiatrists, physiotherapists or an orthopaedic surgeon for more specialized assessments and treatments.
Often when a baby is born, bowed or curved legs are normal due to the position they may be inside the mother's womb. This sort of bowed or curved legs can remain for a while and seem more obvious when the child starts to walk. It may appear that their feet face inwards (or outwards). Often the child may even trip or fall over their own feet while walking.
There may be different reasons why the child's leg or foot faces inwards or outwards while walking. When a child's leg or foot faces inwards or outwards during walking, it can be due to a number of changes in the leg or foot. If the foot is curved in ('banana' shaped feet ), or when there an inward twisting of the shin or thigh bone (tibial or femoral torsion), in-toe walking can occur.
Tibial torsion occurs when the shin (tibia) bone turns in or outwards. An inward-turned tibia is common in children under the age of 3. It almost always straightens after this age after this age (3) with NO treatment. Sometimes the shin bone even turns slighly outwards as the child grows order. This is perfectly normal. These changes occur in children up to the age of 8.
The are health professionals who will recommend that children with in-toe walking wear a type of orthotics called gait plates. While gait plates may provide some cosmetic effect when worn, there is insufficient evidence they will result in long term change.
Parents please be very cautious about claims that such devices will fix your child's in-toe walking. Please consider if the expense, time, and your child's well being is worth it for something that will naturally get better on it's own. Do not let these health professionals prey on your fear.
Femoral torsion is when the femur (thigh bone) is turned in or outwards. Children may appear to walk with their feet tuning inwards or outwards. It then looks like their knees point inwards or outwards.
The femur goes through many changes up to the age of 12 and this inward turn of the of the femur is more commonly seen in girls than boys. Please note that this rotational changes in the femur are a very normal part of growth.
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| W sitting |
This inward turning at the top of the femur and hip sometimes appear in children who W-sit (pictured above) as well. There is however, no research proving that W-sitting is harmful.
There are no shoes, orthotics, garments, stretches etc that have evidence showing them being effective to change in-toe or out-toe walking associated with these rotational changes. Children walk in-toe or out-toe for many reasons.
Unless your child is tripping often because of the leg position at the ages past 8 years of age, or if one leg turns significantly more in or outwards than the other. Unless one leg seems a lot longer or looks very different compared to the other, there is no reason to be worried. For the majority of children, in-toe or out-toe walking is just part of growing.
Actually, famous athletes like Michael Jordan, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Andy Murray, Vera Zvonareva, Zinadine Zidane and Ronaldinho are all pigeon toed. There is some anecdotal evidence and indirect research evidence to support that pigeon toed athletes have faster feet reaction times. And that will have to be in another post.
Reference
Mudge AJ, Bau KV, Purcell LN et al (2014). Normative Reference Values For Lower Limb Joint Range, Bone Torsion, And Alignment IN chldren Aged 4-16 Years. J Ped Orthop. 23(1) : 15-25. DOI: 10.1097/BPB.0b013e328364220a
