I still toe walk. Trying to find out causes.

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I still toe walk, or rather when I walk the ball of my foot (the toe end) touches the floor first and then I put my heel down. This is when I am bare foot, not when I wear my tennis shoes, but this might be why I am comfortable in heels. I do not have a problem with the length or tightness of my Achilles's tendon. I have good muscle tone. It does not seem to be sensory in the feel of the floor, I do not mind having my full foot down. Even when I am standing still I keep my weight on the balls of my feet. I have done this all of my life such that my pre-school teacher commented on it.

I was wondering how many other adults still toe walk.

I am also wondering about causes. I know there is an association between autism and toe walking but I want to know why? and what causes it? This is obviously not hyper-tonic muscles like those associated with toe walking in cerebral palsy.

I am also rather clumsy, capable of tripping over air, and flat, stable ground.

edit: there should be a third option on the poll that did not show up. It should also have "No. Never did." as an option. I do not know how to fix and edit the poll.

I still toe walk, just like you. It only happens when I am barefoot, but I do tend to keep my weight on the balls of my feet even while wearing shoes. It's just more comfortable for me. You mention that you don't think it's a sensory thing - I think it could still be sensory because we prefer it over the whole foot on the ground (but can still control it). So possibly just a mild sensory thing. If there's no apparent issues with tone or tendon length, I see no reason to worry much about it.

I, too, am quite clumsy. I've been known to fall flat on the ground after getting tangled in twigs and (more often!) in nothing!

The almost bouncy sensation of going up and down when I walk, yes that could be sensory.

I am not worried about it, just curious. It spiked my go research, interest meter. I do other more obvious funny things when I walk that I do not care what others think about day to day (walk with my arms out like an airplane one arm up then the other, walk like on a strait line swaying back and forth, etc). Special occasions are different, then I pay attention to how I walk and move like when getting awards, or presentations, or performances. It might look weird in a person in their mid 20's but meh.

I want to see more research on the neurological causes of idiopathic toe walking. The association between autism and toe walking, is it because of a similar route, or separate routes? etc.

I do toe walk, but only occasionally. I enjoy the bouncy feeling too.

I think there are a few forums specifically about toe walking. From what I have seen, this behavior is not uncommon.

I've never toe walked.

I don't really remember whether I toe-walked much as a kid. I liked to walk funny at least a little, but I don't remember the details. I believe I did it at least a little, and I think my parents may have told me it wasn't good for my feet, so I didn't do it as much.

At any rate, I picked up on it later in life anyway. It mostly started with me watching my cats walking and jumping, and I discovered that some of the principles they use can be used to make walking up the stairs easier. (I find it's a lot funner, less tiring, and often faster to bounce up the stairs using my toes than to trudge up them the traditional way. I've only noticed one other person walking up stairs this way so far.)

I ended up translating using my toes into regular walking or running for when I want to have some fun; I kinda like the springy, whimsical feel it brings. I've actually had to force myself to sink to my heels when doing things like jogging in place if I'm trying to exert myself. (Some faster exercises involving feet I still do on my toes simply from having little time to do much else.) I also hear that using your toes is good for things like DDR because it lessens the impact on your knees. Sometimes I just stand on my toes and bounce for the fun of it.

I actually have a pretty good sense of balance and I'm not too clumsy when it comes to many activities, so stumbling hasn't been much of a problem. Even if I stumble (which I haven't done yet toe-walking), I'm often able to keep from falling over and continue walking without a problem.

i had no idea this was a thing. I walk on my tip-toes all the time.

I've read before where people want to stop their autistic kids from toe walking.

Recently I've been reading stuff on google where people complain about their upstairs neighbors walking too loudly and many of them recommend toe walking to reduce the noise.

I feel this is far the best way to walk, on the balls instead of heavily on your heels.

I did read where toe walking was related to a spatial-visual disconnect. The subjects (only 4) were fitted with prism lenses that corrected a form of parallax. Shifting the point of view resulted in the subjects walking on flat feet.

http://www.autism.com/index.php/symptoms_toe_walking

http://www.autisticvision.com/DEF.html#AUT

I like to toewalk from now and then. If you go for causes: Simply because its the natural way to walk. Only because of shoes people got used to hitting the floor with the heel first and rolling over your foot until you finish the step with the toe section. When people didnt have shoes, a normal step begins with the toepart touching the floor, and the heel following. If you run without shoes and would first touch the floor with your heel at every step, your ankles would get ill sooner or later. So the normal way to walk with the toepart first touching the floor, gives the heel shelter because your body weight is shared upon heel and toepart. (Attention: Most peoples toepart nowadays have to less muscles to carry the bodyweight, so dont try to run like this, if you arent used to walking barefeet.) While if you touch with the heel first, it has to carry your complete body weight. People that are used to run barefeet on grass or sand normally change their walking style automatically to the way it is normal when going barefeet. For me personally, I think I dont like the rollpart upon the middle section of the foot, which is so extreme sensitive, and avoid doing so by walking the normal way. With loosen sneakers its also very easy to do so in a way that doesnt draw much attention on you, so if you are not really balancing upon your toes, people shouldnt be able to realize it, until the really concentrate on it. So because of my sneakers not being very tight my heel normally doesnt touch the floor, because of me stepping a few cm out of them with the heels. So the shoe touches the floor fully, while my heel is a few cm upon it, but still inside the upper part of the shoe. (Sorry, my english not that great, hope you understand what I mean.)

I saw the assertion that toe walking was caused by visual spatial deficits. The evidence for the prism lenses is not well supported from my view as a research scientist. There was also no explanation for what would connect crooked gazes and toe walking. In optometrist offices you see many people with crooked gazes who so not toe walk.

Toe walking may be more natural. I would be interested in observational studies of walking habits from populations in pot parts of the world where people do not wear shoes because they are not available or affordable.

I toe walk. In my case, it's a balance issue supposedly unrelated to my Autism. They were querying a mild form of Spina Bifida at one point; but that MRI scan came back as normal.

I said no because I don't do it predominantly, but i still do it. for me,its more that i walk on the balls of my feet without putting my heels down at all when i do it.
I love the sensation of running in the sand at the beach on my toes....

I'm the only toe-walker in my house (I live with four other people) and it has always baffled me why everyone else is so loud when they walk. I've wondered if part of the reason I can't stand how loud their footsteps are (sensory issues aside) is because my way of walking is so much quieter. I used to try to walk "normally," but it feels so uncomfortable to me, partially because I dislike the feeling of my heels on the ground.

I had to move into a vacant room upstairs because I'm a late riser and my previous bed was right below the kitchen - I would wake up to people stomping around like a herd of elephants at 5am and would feel absolutely insane.