Toddler walking on insides of feet? It is hypermobility.

[Inkmaiden]

So at the grand old age of 18 months Inkspawn has decided to start walking. I'm not concerned about her late walking- she's a bum shuffler and I also didn't walk till 18 months- I'm concerned about the fact that she's walking on the insides of her feet, with her ankles practically touching the floor and it seems to be very uncomfortable for her to put her feet flat on the floor. She can cruise and walk with one of those v-tech walker things but when she tries to stand up independently she just topples over because she can't balance.

After about a month of this I took her to the doctor this week but before I could even finish my first sentence she said she sees it all the time and to come back in 6 months if she's still not walking. She checked her hips which are fine but said she didn't need to see her standing or walking. I'm not worried about her walking so much as worried about how she's walking, but I don't know if I'm being over-anxious and it will sort itself out.

I prefer her to be barefoot or in very soft moccis but I've now bought her some Clarks cruising shoes in an attempt to support her ankles.

I could really do with some opinions or experiences.

[mummynegin]

I don't have any experience of this, but in the same situation as you I would have taken her to the doctor too. I'm very surprised that the doctor didn't even want to see her standing or walking. I would ask for a second opinion from another doctor.

In a completely different context, I had an experience with 2 different GPs at the same surgery dismissing my son's severe eczema at age 3 months as "something they see all the time and that he'll grow out it". I was lucky enough that my son's physio saw it differently and referred my son to a paediatrician, who they referred him to an allergy specialist and dermatologist at Kings. It turned out my son was allergic to eggs and fish, which are a massive part of my diet as I don't eat meat, the relevance being that he was exclusively breastfed. I stopped eating eggs and within a week his eczema was almost gone. Also the dermatologist was very critical of the handling of the situation by the GPs and said that the creams they had prescribed were useless for the severity of the eczema. My son's 2.5 now and he's still allergic to eggs. I was lucky that we got to the bottom of the problem before he started eating solids as the consequences could have been severe if I'd given him egg to eat. He's only "eaten" or rather his tongue has come into contact with egg twice accidentally and both times the reaction has been pretty bad given that he hadn't even ingested the egg (i.e. red swollen tongue and red itchy face within a minute or so).

I've gone on a bit, but the point is that I don't think you're being over-anxious. Hopefully the doctor you saw is right, but what if she's not? Unless you find lots of others who've had the same issue and agree with the doctor, you should see another GP and asked to be referred to a physio.

I'll PM you about this, but it may be worth phoning Sunshine House in Peckham and trying to speak to a physio. I'd have thought they'd be able to tell you on the phone if it's something common and whether it needs further investigation/treatment.

[Kath243]

We had a similar situation with our daughter. Her inner ankle bone touched the floor as she walked and she was very flat footed. After a referral to Kings she was diagnosed as being extremely hypermobile: essentially her foot was so flexible it inclined towards flatness, this is better than the situation in which the foot is locked into a position. The doctors seemed a little ambivalent and recommended that she wear insoles, these proved uncomfortable for her and didn't seem to help. By the same token, studies suggested that less support and walking bearfoot where possible would improve strength in the ankle and ultimately the shape of the foot and ankle. We went with instinct and ditched the insoles. We have however always ensured that her shoes provide extra support around her ankle. She now [at the age of 4 and a half] has an excellent arch and the doctors are very happy with the shape of the foot. We could perhaps have some residual concern about hypermobility, but generally if a person stays slim and fit it shouldn't be a problem. So, to cut a long story short, it is probably worth getting it investigated a little further, but even if the initial diagnosis is not positive, this does seem to be a condition that can improve over time.

[Inkmaiden]

Thank you Kath 243, that's very interesting and helpful. The doctor also said Inkspawn is "just extremely flexible" but my sister is hypermobile (she dislocates her shoulder so often she can now pop it back in by herself, erk) and her ten year old daughter still has issues with walking with her feet turned in. I will definitely seek a referral to investigate a bit further.

Out of interest, from what age could you find shoes that provided extra ankle support for your daughter? Inkspawn's feet are currently so little that she can only wear cruising shoes which don't provide much ankle support.

[Kath243]

I think we probably got her first proper shoes when she was about 18-24mths. Shoes for very young children seem to be quite good in that a large number of the styles (Clarks, Ecco etc) do have good ankle support ie the shoes are quite high over the ankle - we have found it harder as our daughter has got older. In terms of shoe shops we found Merlin shoes in Crystal Palace to be very helpful and knowledgeable. I recently got my daughter's new school shoes from the new shoe shop in the ED Warehouse and the lady there was also very helpful.

When we were referred to Kings (daughter was aged about 2) she did see a physiotherapist and she was able to recommend some exercises to do with her - a lot of pointing and flexing of the foot as well as encouraging her to go up onto her tiptoes. Apparently going on a trampoline is also meant to help strengthen the ankle - they have a small one in the physio unit at Kings.

[JDR]

I'm a (non paediatric) physio but with being a bottom shuffler hypermobility is quite likely as that seems to be quite a common cause. I'd try and get either consultant advice or paed physio for advice. I know of excellant cons at kings. Mr lahoti. Good luck x

[Inkmaiden]

Thanks to all the helpful forumites pointing me in the right direction, we saw the consultant and Inkspawn is indeed extremely hypermobile. As it turns out both Inkman and I are as well (which explains a lot actually), so we're like one big happy hypermobile family. Thank you very much to everyone for the posts and PM's, it made all the difference between fruitless worrying and finding a resolution.