akward walk...my childs feet turn out when he walks....

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Hi! I'm new here! This is my first post. My 9year old was dignosed around 4 years ago. Several people over the last few weeks, including his teacher, and my mother-in-law said something about his feet getting worse, so we took him to an orthepedic doctor (the best where we are). The doctor told us are sons feet are turning out 50%, and most peoples only turn out 10%. He told us we could correct this by him breaking both his feet ,and putting them in casts for 6 weeks. My husband and I having been talking about this night and day for a week. We can't decide what to do. The doctor said it would make him walk straight, and really help with his balance. We just don't know if we want to put him through this. But then we also think, its one less thing he will be made fun of for when he gets alittle older. I just wandered if anyone else has had this problem or any suggestions. Please we need advice. Thanks!

our pediatrician noticed that my son had similiar problems when he was just a year old ...we put him in corrective t-bar shoes which the doctor had him wear for 8 hours a day ( while he was sleeping). each month, the dr would turn the shoes slightly so that sons feet would be "normal"...he's still clumsy, but not quite as much as he would have been.
my hubby, who's aspie too, also has problems with his feet toesing outward, but would not even dream of having anything done because of the pain involved.
i would ask the dr if you could speak with any patients who've had this procedure done...

Form what I've read this is a condition that has gotten worse over time. Will it continue to get worse? Will his feet continue to turn out further and further making walking more and more difficult? If the surgery is not done now how will it affect his posture, the way his knees and hips align. Will this affect his spinal cord? Will it cause him to have pain in his joints as he gets older because of misalignment? I'm thinking that the answers to all the above are going to be yes, and if they are yes, I would have the surgery done in a heartbeat. The older he gets the more difficult the surgery will likely be on him.

On a personal note, my younger brother was born with club feet. Both his feet turned inward facing one another. He wore a metal piece on his baby shoes that was turned outward at increments to get his feet turning outward. Then he had surgery when he was in kindergarten. Both feet were broken and he was in casts. This surgery made it possible for him to run, jump, ski, ride a bike and do the things that he wanted to do. Most importantly of all he walks without any limp, with his feet straight. He's forty-five now and I'm sure if he was asked he has no regrets.

Hope this helps.

Lu-Ann

My feet are the same way, never was really an inconvenience to me until I started taking Karate. However I've managed to adapt to it over time.

Hi, my daughter walks with her feet turned way out, I'm concerned she will trip someone someday...I must remind her to keep her toes together when she walks, but she forgets...It is not a graceful gait, either...

We are going to make another appointment with the doctor and ask all of these questions, and some more we have before we decide. I want to do whats best for my son, but I'm really scared. The doctor said we could wait until summer so he wouldn't miss any school. But my little precious son said he would not be able to swim this summer. He is so funny. When I asked him what he thought about having his feet fixed he said so seriously.....Mom, did you ever think maybe god didn't want my feet that Way!! !!

I'm a 32 yr old female and I walk with my feet turned out more than 10%... I've walked like a penguin as some of my friends describe it for as long as I could remember, yeah it's kinda funny but it feels wierd having my feet together and not turned out, it hurts and is awkward on my legs and knees.

We did ask the doctor about other methods to fix his feet. He said this was the only way because of the age he is. Had we taken him when he was younger they could have fixed them another way. We never really thought about them when he was younger we just thought it was because of the AS. Because we see him everyday the change wasn't bad to us as the other people that have noticed. Now I feel really bad. As far as us asking our son what he thinks......he is dead set against it. But he's only 9 so we can't let him make the soul decision. I'm going to ask the doctor about his spine, and whether it is going to get worse before we make a final decision. I just don' want kids to make fun of him. He's going to get enough of that with the AS. We also don't want him when he grows up to tell us he wished we would have fixed his feet!! !!

have you asked for a second opinion ?

When I walk my left leg turns in slightly and has for a long time. It never gave me any problems until I was in 5th grade and was going to this school with a very intense P.E. program and started having trouble with my leg hurting badly after class, sometimes to the point where I'd limp. My leg was X-rayed and it was determined one of the bones was slightly turned inward, had probably been that way since I was born, and should have been treated then instead of at age 11. There was a treatment for it but my parents chose not to do it. Instead, they tried to use it to further a certain agenda for me they had, often telling me if I complied it would be cured, which even at age 11 I knew as a total lie.

I later went to schools which had more appropriate P.E. programs and I didn't have the trouble with my leg I had at that one school. I am a little clumsy, but the problem with my leg hasn't caused me too much trouble in my lifetime. As long as I don't overdo it, I'm fine.

My mom said the same thing about a second opinion. We are planning on getting on!! !! !

I've had walking problems for my entire life...

When I was very young, my right foot pointed inwards , and it flopped downwards when I walked. As I grew older, the flopping stopped, but my feet kept pointing inwards (my left had also pointed inwards, but much less so, and it never flopped).

From as far back as I can remember, I had a phenomenon where, out of the blue, my legs would get so tired they could barely carry me. I played soccer, and sometimes I would just, as the coach said, "lose my hustle". Start dragging around the field, walking after the pack chasing the ball, that sort of thing. This continued until I hit puberty.

When I hit puberty, I quit having my legs lose their strength, but I began to have severe pain in the arches of my feet. To this day, if I try to walk a distance of greater than 3/4ths of a mile, or stand for more than 2 hours, the pain starts, and gets more severe the longer I walk or longer I stand. I ended up quitting my last job because it involved standing behind a cash register, and it nearly crippled me.

Sadly, I've no advice... I've tried several different kinds of orthotics, including ones that cost multiple hundreds of dollars and were molded directly to my feet. The help has been inconsistent at best... when I hit puberty I nearly doubled in size, I currently weigh around 250, and my weight tends to crush the shape of my orthotics until they no longer serve the purpose. The only other option that I was given was plastic surgery, which barely counts. It isn't covered by insurance, would cost possibly over $10K, and wouldn't have anywhere near a certain success rate, and had a high rate for potentially crippling me.

You'd have to kill me before letting both my son's feet be broken and put in casts for 6 weeks.

Have you considered having him study ballet? I had an extemely awkward gait and started studying ballet at age 10. A "turn out" is encouraged in ballet and the strength he develops could help him have more control over his feet/ limbs. It did help me a lot.