What is a Flat Feet?
Flat feet in children are a common condition almost all kids have flat feet till the age of 3\4 years. You can recognize them by low or flat arches. Often the heel tilts out while walking.
We think of flat feet in 2 categories, flexible and rigid flat feet.
Flexible Flat Feet
Around 99% of the causes of flat feet are flexible, the remaining 1% are more severe and are likely to need some sort of surgical intervention.
This article will focus on flexible flat feet, flexible flat feet in children can be easily positioned into normal alignment for example if the child stands on tiptoes, the arches reappear and the heel stops tilting outside. Flexible flat feet can be considered a normal variant just as feet with relatively high arches are considered a part of the normal spectrum
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What to Expect of Flexible Flat Feet in Children?
Thankfully, fully flexible flat feet are painless and do not require any braces, therapy, or surgery. They also are not expected to cause issues in adulthood however they can become uncomfortable in some cases. When pain occurs it is usually along the arches or outside of the feet.
Typically the first treatment is arch support, they usually relieve symptoms but don’t change the shape of the feet. Over-the-counter arch support is inexpensive and usually as effective as expensive custom orthotic support however customized orthotics may be worth trying if over-the-counter orthotics do not relieve pain.
What to do if your child has a Tight Heel Cord?
It is important to know that flat feet with tight heel cords behave slightly differently. If the heel cord is tight then a stretching regime will often relieve symptoms though the feet may not stop being flat, importantly the feet should be inverted during this type of exercise to avoid making symptoms worse.
Unfortunately, there are cases where pain persists despite prolonged use of arch support and stretching. This means it may be time to think about the surgery which might involve either putting a small screw or cutting the bones of the feet to make them straight
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How is a Rigid Flat Feet Different?
Rigid flat feet are a different situation, these deformities are often caused by a bone abnormality inside the feet which might include an extra connection between the foot bones, or a foot of the bone called talus is positioned up or down rather than in line with the foot. In other cases, there may be an extra joint between some of the bones of the foot. These rare conditions require different surgeries than typical flat feet.
To summarize, fortunately, most conditions of flat feet in children are flexible, painless, do not require treatment, and do not lead to problems later in life.