Children's Foot Care

Little feet grow quickly, but caring for them can mean more than making sure they’re supplied with properly fitting shoes a few times each year.

As children’s feet develop, you might see abnormal forms of standing and walking. These can include:

• Walking with toes pointed inward (in-toeing) or outward (out-toeing).
• Walking for extended periods on tiptoe.
• Having arches that vanish when standing, but reappear when sitting or rising on their toes.

The good news is that, in most cases, these abnormalities tend to resolve themselves as your child ages. They can be a natural part of foot structure and motor skills forming.

That being said, it is still worth it to keep periodic track of these types of conditions to make sure there are no underlying causes or concerns. Arches that disappear entirely, for example, might need to be addressed—and the sooner they are, the better it will likely be for your child as their feet mature and become rigid.

Two treatment options we offer that are particularly beneficial for pediatric flatfoot conditions are custom orthotic therapy and HyProCure. Both work to improve foot positioning–including providing support for foot arches–in different ways: 

• Custom orthotics are prescription shoe inserts that correct foot position and motion externally (outside the body). They slide easily into your child’s shoes and can provide arch support your son or daughter isn’t receiving naturally.
• HyProCure is an advanced treatment that adjusts foot structure with the help of a (completely safe and painless) titanium stent placed into a specific space between foot bones. This is done through a minimally invasive procedure, which means faster healing times and less pain for your child than “traditional” surgeries.