They said her weird foot is the result of her toe walking. He said its not habit as the ped said at her 5 year appt and Im waisting my breathe reminding her to walk with her feet flat. (I have to tell her CONSTANTLY).
Her achilles tendon is really tight and so her foot has to turn in and down to put the heel on the floor causing it to look the way it does.
He said we have three options.
Do nothing. But she may need shoes that encourage the heel to be higher than the toes. There can be pain but not unti she is 40-50
Brace them where they periodically change the brace to lengthen it. Takes 6-8 weeks and has 50 percent recurrence rate.
Surgery. They go in cut the tendon to stretch it and then brace it for 8 weeks. Has a 10-15 percent recurrence rate.
I forgot to ask what he reccomended but I did ask how tight she was compared to the other toe walkers hes seen ( he said he sees a lot) and he said shes pretty tight.
He said sometimes balance and clumsyness is in the head and so its not guaranteed to fix that but she should be able to walk better and maybe have better athletic ability than she has now. (which is NONE)
I think we have decided to go with either the bracing or surgery. I dont want her to be miss athletic but to be able to walk from point a to point b without falling or tripping would be good.
Presley had the achilles tendon surgery when she had her hip surgery, and that was the WORST thing on her
The leg cramps were HORRIBLE! She was in a cast from mid calf down, so there's nothing you can do once the leg cramps start. She was up every hour, on the hour at night screaming in pain.
She was on Valium and Lortab, and neither helped her.
I would let that be your last resort. I mean, it worked, but lord have mercy it was hard on her (and me)
Presley had the achilles tendon surgery when she had her hip surgery, and that was the WORST thing on her
The leg cramps were HORRIBLE! She was in a cast from mid calf down, so there's nothing you can do once the leg cramps start. She was up every hour, on the hour at night screaming in pain.
She was on Valium and Lortab, and neither helped her.
I would let that be your last resort. I mean, it worked, but lord have mercy it was hard on her (and me)
Thanks for the input.
I would want to use it as a last resort, but again Id hate to brace her just to have to do the surgery anyway. Im pretty sure dh and I are leaning towards just the bracing but the recurence rate frustrates me.
my cousin had a child who had to have the surgery and casted. They did it in 1st grade. He was a really bad toe walker. He did well with it. From what I have seen and been told, most who are very extreme toe walkers end up with surgery. That is why they did it. They figured this was a long term issue that they wanted to have fixed early. So, I can understand having a hard time deciding. I know they did, but I guess everyone they knew had the issue not go away.
I am glad you know what is going on. I don't have any advice for your decision making, but am thinking of you. Just remember you really are a great mom and K is lucky to have you.
Glad you took her to the ortho. Surgery can be scary but I agree with those reoccurance %, that looks risky as well. Since surgery is such a big option can you get a 2nd opinion on it elsewhere before you decide?
The doctor urged us to do surgery with Anna right out the gate. He told us if it were his daughte he would because her feet were so bad (different condition than K). We decided to do serial casting instead with option of surgery later. Her feet are as good as can be now.
So glad K will get those little feet taken care of now. :)
I'm glad you have the consult and know what is going on now. I don't envy you making this decision though.
A family friend has a daughter their same age with the same problem. They are doing the bracing with her, and so far it has gone really well. IHNI about how she will do long term, obviously, but they did one foot and now are on the other, and the 1st foot is good as new.
