Are you wondering why your child seems to complain about standing for a long time? Does she seem to work through shoes rather quickly, leaving them look worn out and squashed? Does he have difficulty maintaining balance when walking? Perhaps your child has flat feet.
Flat feet, known as pes planus or fallen arches, is a condition where the feet have no arches are present in those with normal feet. This can happen in one or both legs. Of course, when you check your baby's feet, you might note that they all look flat, but that is because the arch has not formed yet. Usually formed arches while the child reaches two or three years. Unfortunately for some, the arch never develops.
Flat feet usually do not cause serious problems, although they are usually characterized by symptoms of strain. They can come as a congenital condition, with someone who was born with it, or when the foot suffered extensive trauma by constantly walking on hard surfaces. Sometimes, legs may appear to have the arch when the person is sitting and with a big toe bent back, but once he put his weight on the leg, bends flat out. Flat feet can also come as a result of years of wear and tear that weakens the tendons are responsible for holding the arch.
The main symptom of having flat feet include foot pain after standing for a while and the possibility of swelling in the midfoot while standing. Some have seen foot abnormalities, or a limp from loss of push-off strength of the leg. It also can cause lower leg pain, or pain on the inside of one's ankle.
If you suspect your child to have the condition, the signs that you can find, including examining his shoes. If the shoe show excessive wear in the mid sole on the inside, between the heel and midfoot, there is a good chance that your child has flat feet. You can schedule a trip to the podiatrist to make sure the arch falls do not affect the hip or knee. This visit doctors even more important if the child complained of pain while walking or running. Rarest of cases is when the flat foot caused by a leg bone that has joined together, which makes the bones from moving and causing pain.
There are conflicting views on whether special shoes or inserts to help orthopedic condition. Some believe that wearing inserts helps ease the pain by providing an artificial leg flexion, but others believe that the development of foot will not be affected as well. Indeed, the insert has been found not to affect growth, but it seemed to offer assistance while they are being used. This is why, if your child is experiencing pain in his leg, doctors are more likely to recommend a shoe insert or heel cup to relieve it. It will be seen that the flexible flat feet that are painless do not usually need to be treated.
In some cases, complications can stem from flat feet. This may include inflammation and pain in the ligaments on the soles of the feet of children. It can also cause bunions and calluses, as well as stress fractures in the lower leg. But this case is considered limited, because most cases of flat feet does not result in something more serious.
Fortunately, flat feet do not necessarily limit your child's physical activity. Although children with flat feet may feel physical stress on his feet faster than other children, as long as he can still continue, it does not matter. Doctors usually recommend rest only when the feet get hurt from excessive. Apparently, wearing special shoes, walking barefoot, or even doing leg exercises has not been proven to help flat feet.
This insight into the flat foot should give you peace of mind needed to help your child in any way he needs. Surgery is usually not considered for flat feet, except in very rare cases. However, only your doctor can help advice you on it, and most cases can be left just like that, so you do not need to worry yourself to pieces imagine the worst scenario.
