The best resource to know about children's toe-walking from a paediatric physiotherapist perspective. Toe-walking is a common paediatric condition in which children walk on their toes or the ball of their feet. I’m going to share with you some information about toe-walking, and then will demonstrate some therapeutic exercises for toe-walkers.
When toddlers start walking around the age of 12 & 18 months, they walk by placing their whole foot on the floor. Then their growth and development accelerate, and between the age of two and three years, children are expected to start walking using heel-to-toe pattern.
However, some children begin walking on their toes as soon as they start walking. This is normal, but if children continued to walk on their toes for over a period of six months, then I advise to consult an experienced paediatric physiotherapist.
Toe-walking can happen due to many reasons one of them is a neurological condition such as Cerebral Palsy, or a musculoskeletal condition such as achilles tendon shortening, or a developmental disorder like the autism spectrum disorder, or it may be due to an unknown reasons (idiopathic toe-walking).
Why to care about toe-walking? We’ll all agree that toe-walking is an abnormal walking pattern and has adverse physical consequences like muscles shortening, muscles weakness, and frequent falls. Besides, if it’s due to a known medical condition, then symptoms of developmental delays are commonly observed.
A thorough assessment by an appropriate team of healthcare professionals is necessary to determine the correct intervention pathway. In general, the first-line of intervention for toe-walking is physiotherapy and orthotics. Physiotherapy focuses on treating or preventing the complications such as muscles tightness, leg pain, muscle weakness, poor balance, and other related issues.
I’ll demonstrate several helpful exercises that can be done with toe-walkers:
- Stretching: this is a long-term condition, that’s why I always prefer to teach children how to do the stretches by their own; (1) mini lunges (2) squat hold (3) alternate heels (4) hamstring-long sitting (5) long sitting both legs (6) deep lunges (7) V-shape, (see the time-line to view them).
- Strengthening: (1) tap on the bean bags (2) lift the bean bag- sitting (3) walk backward (4) walk backward slowly (5) step up (6) heel bridge (7) sit to stand (8) jump backward (9) lunges (10) bear crawl (11) bear crawl over obstacles (12) bicycle (13) hand-stand against the wall (14) crab position shoulder tap (15) stepping sideway/backward (16) plank step (17) plank on a step (18) jump forward (19) hop in place
- Balance: (1) rock the balance board-1 leg (2) rock the balance board- 2 legs (3) roll the ball (4) balance and kick (5) lift the bean bag-standing (6) kick cups- sitting (7) lift the cones off (8) tap according to colour
- Motor planning: motor planning is a skill that we all need to learn any new skill such as walking, running, or even a more complex one like driving. It’s an advantage to practice normal walking pattern with children as early as possible because the more children walk on toes, the harder to break this pattern. So.. practice… practice.. practice the normal walking pattern as early as you can and as frequent as possible and in different environments.
If toe-walking persists after physiotherapy and orthotics management, then other interventions can be considered such as a surgery to release tendons tightness. If your child walks on his/her toes, then I do recommend to consult an experienced paediatric physiotherapist to assess your child and then to advise accordingly.
00:00 What is toe-walking?
00:22 Walking pattern
01:00 Reasons of toe-walking
01:23 Why to care about toe-walking?
01:45 What is the intervention for toe-walking?
02:16 Physiotherapy exercises for toe-walking
02:29 Stretching exercises for toe-walking
03:36 Strengthening exercises for toe-walking
07:05 Balance activities for toe-walking
09:11 Motor planning tips
09:45 What's next?
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Disclaimer/ This video is not a medical advice or a treatment plan and is intended for general awareness only. This video should not be used to assess or treat any medical or physical condition. The use of this video content is at your own risk.
#toewalkingchildren #exercisestotreattoewalking
4 июл 2024
