Turned in foot or "intoeing?"

[D&R love Disney]

I toed in as a child, wore bar shoes then orthodic devices in my shoes for years. The treatments did help. Still have knee issue but that cannot be fixed until I have a knee replacement in the future (hopefully not for 20 years or so).

 

[ewalshslp]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. I will keep everyone posted after our appt. tomorrow. The person we are seeing comes highly recommended, so hopefully he can help. Thanks again!!!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. I will keep everyone posted after our appt. tomorrow. The person we are seeing comes highly recommended, so hopefully he can help. Thanks again!!!

Good luck! I think a key question to ask is what are the long term effects to her body if this isn't corrected. Like many posters have said, it might not bother her now, but it can cause long term damage. The body is designed to work a certain way, and when you ask it to do something out of the ordinary day after day, things start to break down. Sometimes I think doctors forget that when they say not to do anything about it because it isn't bothering you now. Or else they want the money when you come back years later when you have worn out your tendons and cartilage and are in pain!

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

I had this problem too, along with "knocked knees"....during the day, I wore this band around my waist with these straps that wrapped around my legs and attached to my shoes (was suppose to pull my feet out) At night, I wore what some here have referred to the shoe bars, where I slept with two shoes with a metal bar between them, and a devise that attached my knees together.

NONE of these worked for me. I finally got corrected though!! Finally at 53 I got both of my knees replaced, which straightened them out, which in turn, straightened out the turn of my feet too. I get so happy when I look at my legs and they are STRAIGHT!.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

My brother and I both were pigeon toed and had to wear a brace as young children. I don't recall much about it, for how long, but do recall that I would forget when I woke up and fall as I got out of bed.
I guess the braces worked, because neither of us toe in.

 

[Maridw]

I finally found out what the name of my GDD's braces are called. They are Twister Cables.

This is kind of what they look like:

The main difference is that my GDD's are attached directly to a pair of shoes instead of the plastic forms and they do not attach to her legs in any way.

 

[Bunless]

It will be hard to get orthotics in most dance shoes!

Normal orthotics, yes. Some podiatrists work with dancers to create specific inserts for dance. However, a PT can also do a good job with helping a student tape to help encourage the foot in the correct direction while dancing.

As someone who saw an ortho, a podiatrist and then another podiatrist, you have to keep seeing someone until they give a crap and I am not kidding.

...

The issue with ignoring the mechanics of the problem is that you get bone spurs, your hips go out of alignment, throws out your back and so on. So what I am saying is you need a really good diagnosis of the problem aka what exercises she should be doing daily for her condition.

In addition you need a good PT. A bad one will mess you up as well.

Bottom line, good thing your dd is in dance. Overall exercise is the key to staying in balance. A good core & strength can go a long way. Orthotics may help or hurt as well, so keep an eye on it. She will need exercises to combat the shift in her walking/alignment. So make sure you find out how the orthotics will shift her whole body movement.

Good Luck!

Just wanted to do a big agree on this.

As a ballet teacher, every year there are about half a dozen kids around the age of eight who have had their pediatrician say that they will grow out of some orthopedic issue, but those physical issues are making the mechanics of movement difficult to accomplish. While, yes, it doesn't help ballet for these things to be going on (twisted pelvis, turned in hips, pigeoned toed, toe-walkers), even more important is that it is going to make their lives more difficult and painful as they get older.

It is hard not to get angry when I bring up the topic with the parent, and the answer is 'yes, we mentioned it to the pediatrician, but they said she'll grow out of it'. What I end up saying is that pediatricians go to conferences to learn more about vaccines, colds, and fevers... they tend to not go to conferences on how to deal with and the long lasting effects of problems with the mechanics of the hip at a young age. Then I suggest going to a children's sports medicine doctor in order to find out what exactly is going on and then take the kid to PT.

P.s - they DON'T grow out of it.

EXACTLY

 

[stsomewhere]

My daughter has it. After trips to ortho and other doctors, I take her to the chiropractor.

It has something to do with the hip being out of place and turning everything in. Once she gets adjusted, she is good for a awhile. When I notice the foot start turning in, I take her back.

My cousin's son has the same thing. They took him to all kids of doctors. He now just goes to the chiro,too.

 

[shellybaxter]

I was "pigion" toed as a child and still am to an extent. The only thing my Dr told my mom to do was have me wear cowboy boots (we live in a ranching community) in the wrong feet. I remember doing that for a while and that it hurt. Today when I stand still I will turn my feet in if I don't concentrate on standing correctly and I am afraid of walking down steps because my feet feel funny. I hope you can get better help for your daughter

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My daughter has it. After trips to ortho and other doctors, I take her to the chiropractor.

It has something to do with the hip being out of place and turning everything in. Once she gets adjusted, she is good for a awhile. When I notice the foot start turning in, I take her back.

My cousin's son has the same thing. They took him to all kids of doctors. He now just goes to the chiro,too.

Well, if that further you have to realize that the hip goes out of alignment because of a weak core.

My pelvis gets twisted and yes it only took the PT 3 mins to fix it but I am working on my core strength to try and fix myself.

When you start getting injuries it becomes messy and just fixing the pelvis will no longer work.

Just passing this along as I am all messed up. Blah.

 

[BrownEyedGrl]

I actually have the opposite problem- my feet point outward. It it from my knee problems. Perhaps that is something to keep an eye on?

 

[ewalshslp]

Update! The PT we saw yesterday was very nice. He said my Dd's intoeing is not severe and also not consistent, which means she has the ability to straighten out. It's just more comfortable for her to walk that way b/c of the way her hips are aligned. He fitted her for custom shoe inserts that should help. He did say that she is on the older side for correction. I could kick myself for believing the ortho guy when he said she'd grow out of it.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice