Hi, my 8 month old son is currently having serial casting done to lengthen his achilles tendon. He also has to have a nerve conduction study done after he turns 1. Obviously your daughters case arose after she started walking but what did her feet look like when she was a baby? I'm hoping that my son's case is something which can be easily rectified...I won't know for sure until after the NCS, but am trying to ease my mind in the meantime.

My daughter is also a toe walker and has been since she started walking at 13 months.  She is unable to put her left foot flat and has had physio, been to an orthapaedic surgeon, refferrred to a nuerologist and undergone an mri.  There can be serious causes of toewalking but in our daughter's case she has been cleared of any known cause and classified as idiopathic.  Thanks for sharing your story,  we are currently waiting to hear back from the orthapaedic surgeon but serial casting looks like the probable treatment.  Interestingly enough she has just recently started to attempt walking with feet flat, much improvement  but still not there.

I've been working with preschool aged children in a mental health program for many years and I lost count of how many kids came in "toe walking"!  Your advice to ignore "they'll grow out it" is excellent!  Often times we will have to encourage the parents to go around the medical doctor to get the child to a Physical Therapist or an Occupational Therapist to evaluate for potential problems.  You are the caregiver of this child, and your doctor is a partner, not the CEO in this relationship. If you perceive a problem, then it should not be patted on the head and dismissed.  No amount of toe walking should really be ignored.  Toe walking is often a red flag for other problems and should be address as quickly as possible before more drastic intervention (such as yours) is required.  Good job on insisting!

wow that is amasing i never would have thought that at least you cought it now as they say beter now then later my sister had pigon toes where the feet turn in mum had to put her shoes on the wrong feet to correct it should have seen the looks she got from other people

Hi, Thankyou for the advice, My mum used to tell me that my cousin and i both used to walk on our tip toes. Which occasionaly i will still do it. Fortunatley for myself ( not sure about my cousin) i have had no problems.

Thankfully my children have never done it, because with out reading your advice i would most deffiantly of let it slide thinking it wouldn't be a problem. How very wrong i could of been

Thanks for the advice - I just noticed Jasmine doing this today so i shall be watching more closely in the future to ensure that it does not become an ingrained habit. How awful to go though medical procedures such as those described.

A friend of my daughter's, aged 15, always walks on her toes & apparently does have shortened tendons & calf muscles. As far as I know there is nothing that has been done about it, & I'm not sure if they plan to do anything either. However after reading this article I will pass on your advice to her parents. Thank you.

thank you so much for the advice my nephew has been doing it as soon as he been able to walk and he is now 6 and still walks on his toes and we have all called him twinkle toes as well.. i will be telling my brother staight away  thank you once again

I noticed my daughter, 4, has been doing this since she was 2. Now, my 1 1/2 year old son is doing it, too. My husband still does this, too, occasionally. He says he walks faster when he doesn't put his heels down.

When I catch my children doing it, I reminded them immediately to put their heels down. My daughter now walks normally most of the time.

Wow, i totally never expected so many people to respond to this, i guess us mothers put ourselves in our own little world, and forget that there are others out there who are actually interested. thankyou all so much, im blown away by all the responses!

Hi

I know all about toe walking kids my 3 sons did it and my eldest ending up having an operation when he was in his early teens my other 2 boys had plaster series for 6 weeks then wore leg braces for 6 months, then 2 years later both younger boys had to repeat the plaster series, then 6 months of leg braces again, the youngest was 6 months when he had his first plaster series, his brother 3 years old, it makes life very interesting to go shopping with 3 kids in plaster, the day the operated on my eldest the hospital decided that what a good time to plaster the other 2, but they walk normally now except for the youngest who is autistic, I.I. eplileptic, has ataxia, a compacted bowel and myopathy but is the most loveable child (should say teenager) in this world, special kids are wxactly that special. Have a wonderful Xmas everyone

Very good advise,thank you. I know a few children doing the same thing and I hope I can advise their parents to help to fix it. Thank you.

Thank you it is something i did not know

 Thanks for writing this  informative article, this should help many parents, if their worried about their child walking on their toes.

It is also recommended that young children don't wear shows all the time as this can also lead to the same problem as well as balance problems.

Thankfully, none of ours have toe walked.  it might have slowed them down if they did though!  Speedy Gonzales eat your heart out! lol

Thanks for writing this.  I'm sure that there will be many parents going through a similar problem that will find this very good advice indeed.

OMG! I did this all through my childhood and eventually after many years of stretching exercises I can now walk with my feet flat, but I still in habit walk on my toes at times and if I do it for too long, yes, it actually pains my calves and achillies tendon as they start to stretch again.

I wish my parents had known this when I was little!

Though, oddly enough, it used to make walking and running in high heels very easy to do... I don't know if that's a good thing, but it has proven to be a useful skill to have at times.

Great info. My nephew is 8 yrs old and still walks on his toes. Always has. Does anyone know if help would still be recommended at this age?

Great advice my daughter also walks on her toes although not constantly and was told she would grow out of it also. This article will remind me too keep an eye on it if it continues for too long

Oh dear, poor wee mite, though they bounce back at that age don't they?  How traumatic for YOU though!  Thanks very much for sharing this advice as it really is very important.

I have never heard of this, thanks for enlightening me!  I hope the casting goes well for your daughter and she is able to walk normally after it all.

Thanks for sharing your story with us. I have never heard of this before. Hope it fixes your daughter.

Juzzy xoxo

Hi there,

Thanks so much for sharing this with us . . My husbands neice used to do this too and we all used to laugh too. Now after reading this I realize just how lucky she was that things didn't get to serious . .  I hope all goes well for charlotte and that she recovers well, what an ordeal for her to have to endure at such a young age. . .

Cheers Kellz