My Son Walks With His Feet Inward, What Should I Do?
On many occasions, when we see children walking, we notice the inclination of the feet inwards. Do you know why it is? In pregnancy, the first step is that the baby begins to place the big toe in a straight line with the legs, that is where the rotation of the legs begins. This action does not end definitively until the child is eight years old, at which point the definitive angle is reached.
For this reason, until that age you can see that your child walks with his feet inward and not worry too much because it is a problem that will be corrected without the need for treatment.
Main causes of inward walking
Internal tibial torsion
As its name suggests, one of the main causes of your child walking with his feet inward is that the tibia has a deformation and makes a turn towards the internal area. This type of deformation usually corrects itself as time progresses and does not usually need any type of treatment.
Metartaso adduct
Another possible cause is that a metatarsal adduct is generated, or what is the same, that the inner part of the foot deviates inwards. This is generally produced by the placement of the baby in the mother’s uterus, due to the little space they have when they begin to grow.
Even with deviation, the foot can be flexible or rigid: the degree of flexibility of the foot will indicate whether treatment is needed or not. If required, the child’s age should be taken into account. Thus, if the patient has not yet reached one year of life, treatment with a plaster is usually resorted to. The goal of using this material is to correct the posture of the foot before the baby begins to walk.
If, on the other hand, the child is older, surgery should be used to free the joints inside the foot. Plaster will also be used for recovery.
Femoral torsion
Femoral torsion happens when the femoral bone twists inward, so the knees and feet twist as well. Detecting this torsion when seeing a child sitting is quite simple, since they tend to do it in a W shape, and it is difficult for them to position themselves in an Indian shape, a very common position among children.
This is the cause that can take the longest to correct, since femoral torsion can cause your child to walk with his feet inward until an advanced age such as ten years. Regarding its treatment, it is best to correct it in a natural way.
If your child continues to walk with his feet inward, once the age we talked about is past, he may need a small surgery to correct it.
How to solve it?
The first thing to do is observe the child for a few days. If in an understandable period of time your child walks with his feet inward, you should take him to the specialist. Usually the first thing that is done is an X-ray, and sometimes a scan to check if the rotation is really serious.
As we have explained previously, in most cases gravity does not reappear because the rotation does not definitively end until eight or ten years. If your child continues to walk with his feet inward after that age, it is usually corrected by simple surgery. Small metal plates are placed in the cartilage area or directly shaped to straighten the leg.
