No arches and inserts

DD (nearly 2) had a podiatry appt yesterday after we had some concerns.

Her ankles roll in, her feet turn out and some of her toes cross.

Toes: Easy, we've been showed how to tape them so they 'train' to be straight.

But, her ankles roll in because her feet are too flat. Turns out she has no arches. We thought she just had flat feet, turns out they are crazy flat and it's affecting her knees (guilty mummy moment)

So, she has to wear shoes as much as possible (basically all day every day) with special inserts, regular appts for the next 6 years and possibly inserts for the rest of her life. All from being a premmie. :(

Has anyone been through this?

My two eldest have flat feet too and we only just got them custom made orthotics from a podiatrist this year. Prior to that they were only wearing shop brought ones. Don't feel bad - she's still so little and little kids can often have flat feet and still be entirely normal. I don't know whether it is all because of being prem though - lots and lots of people have flat feet! And my two kids were full term 40wk babies! The only problem with the inserts is sandals - you can't really wear them with sandals as there is nothing to hold them in place. But you can still get some really nice little shoes that cover the whole foot. Or you could get birkenstock sandals for her to wear over summer because they have proper orthotics built into them if you're worried about her feet getting hot over summer. It's not a big deal really and they certainly don't hurt them or anything. The difference they make to them is huge! My DD1 has ankles that curve in like bananas they are that bad, but with the orthotics they are perfect.

Interesting because we were told by podiatrist that they can't tell flat feet until they are 4 years approximately. DH has flat feet so was wondering about DD - she had to have inserts from walking to about 2.5 due to feet turned out (big baby also hip dysplasia). We still think ankles roll in a bit but have been told within frame of normal and to let feet develop naturally.

Dd1 was a premmie with hip dysplasia too, she got inserts at 4.5 she is flat footed like me. Hers are shop ones that our podiatrist modified for us slightly rather than getting custom ones when they grow so fast. My other kids are fine at this stage but dd2 had curly toes which had to be fixed with surgery.

Hmm, subbing with interest as I am pretty sure DS will have some issues. His ankles roll in, his feet turn out and he has flat feet.. Mind you his full term brother had flat feet too..

Anyway, It's awful that you feel guilty.. Not sure what to say.. There's nothing I can say that can make it better. It's just adjusting to new things. You have done it before and you'll do it again :hug:

This is DD too I suspect. She has her next ortho app in Feb and I strongly suspect she'll need inserts as it looks like her feet turn in and ankles roll in. She is 17 month and still trips every minute or so when walking/standing. So I'm interested in hearing about others experiences too.

DD1 has insoles and was under a specialist as her feet were flat and turned inwards.

She was given exercises, walking on her toes and walking in sand. the last one was hard as we are not near the beach.

The other thing we were told was when we laced shoes to criss cross them as it makes the shoe fit better

Thongs were not ideal so if worn it was to be only for a short time

I thought it was normal for young kids to have flat feet? DD's ankles roll inwards too. The physio says they generally give it a bit longer before going for inserts, but to go bare foot or with soft-soled shoes for the mean time. But then someone I spoke to the other day - whose daughter also has hypermobile joints - said they were getting fitted for inserts soon and she's not even 2.5. :dunno:
Perhaps your situation is different, though? I don't really know.

hypermobility might be a problem though because of the movement in the joint they would be at a higher risk of rolling their ankles and getting a soft tissue injury. DD is shocking and rolls her ankles quite a bit even with having the orthotics because of the movement in her joints. I have to heavily strap her ankles prior to her playing netball because I can guarantee that she will roll on it. that wasn't really a problem as a toddler, small child though, only as she got older.

DS used to wear othotics in his shoes for almost a year, (was 4 weeks early and also had hip dysplasia), then at our yearly orthopaedic surgeon appt to check his hips, the surgeon basically told us the orthotics where a waste of time as there is no real evidence they 'fix' flat feet, and the worst that would happen is he would be an adult with flat feet (like me)

DS used to turn his big toes in severely (and almost 'claw' the ground), but with natural growth this has rectified itself as his balance and mobility has improved as he's grown. We've had lots of conflicting advice but it seems that there is a podiatrist point of view (recommending orthotics) and an orthopaedic surgeon point of view (its very common and doesn't really cause any issue in adulthood). Interestingly our Orthopaedic surgeon is the Department Head of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Womens and Childrens Hospital so we felt his advice was more accurate. We basically stopped using the orthodics the podiatrist charged us $90 for and DSs feet are still somewhat flat but his toes no longer curl in. I guess I felt that the podiatrist was running a business so of course they wanted to see DS regularly as thats how they generate their income, rather than there being a true need for it.

Anyway, the point of my post is that it might be worth getting a second opinion. I think when you have a baby/toddler with health issues you get used to just listening to what everyone recommends etc and just doing it but we got to the point where we felt DS was being over-diagnosed with issues and wanted to reduce medical interventions in his development unless they were totally necessary.

Yes I think we got our similar view from the orthopedic doctor at the RCH to MummyNaomi - although the podiatrist we saw was actually of pretty much the same opinion but I did get the impression that both definitely thought that orthotics are being over prescribed for children.

MummyNaomi, that's good to know. DD had dysplasia and is coming up to her 6 month review, it's good to know what I can expect. Like you I trust our orthopaedic surgeon. Great to hear that it could just be something that DD grows out of.

I have a really informative leaflet about it, I will scan it tomorrow and post

That would be awesome! :D

If you have flat feet, you have flat feet. It's common for little kids to have it and be entirely normal and they will more than likely grow out of it by the time they are 5, it's only after this point that you'll really know if they have flat feet or not. and orthotics don't cure flat feet, they just support your feet in the right position so it doens't cause a domino effect of related joint problems.

We're still having regular appointments. Her feet aren't improving much at all. She had to have her inserts reinforced at the last appointment because they weren't doing as much as needed and she was suffering knee and back pain. She still does if she's not wearing her shoes.

Not really sure where we go from now.

Unfortunately it is something that you just have to manage the best way you can. My eldest still gets really sore and achy feet, especially after he plays footy and all we can do is manage it by regular chiro visits to check his spine alignment and replace his shoes before they get too worn out and less supportive. Same with DD - as soon as her shoes get worn we replace them and we don't have as many problems. It's tough though, especially when they are so young, because you know it may be a problem they have well into adulthood.

I have no arches and am completely flat footed (I do an awesome footprint with paint!). My parents never picked it up or worried about it. I also have overpronation (I think that's what its called). At 43 its only ever affected me being able to stand still in one place for a long time - so I avoided working as a check out chick and instead was a waitress and ran around fine. I don't like to stand in queues either. I think just watch it over time and see how she develops.

Oh and I have never worn inserts or had any joint problems.