You might think that a podiatrist doesn’t typically see kids. Well you couldn’t be more mistaken! Some come in for plantar warts and ingrown toenails, which are very common in children. Others come in for gait issues, such as toe walking or intoeing. Some think that kids grow out of these gait issues, but they don’t.
Personally, we love seeing kids in our office. But we don't see them often enough, and that's often because children don't always tell you that they’re having foot pain. In some cases, they may be too little to express it. In others, they just don't have the right words to explain what's wrong. So, to help fill the gap, here are five ways you can read their mind and know when it's time to see a pediatric podiatrist.
5 Ways to Know Your Child Needs a Pediatric Podiatrist
Not sure if you need to make an appointment with pediatric podiatrist Dr. Andrew Schneider? Here are five warning signs to look for:
Your child falls a lot
We see this a lot of times with young children who are pigeon toed. They trip over their own feet. This happens even more when they run. You may find that your child doesn’t want to run because she doesn’t want to fall. She doesn’t want to get embarrassed, especially in front of her friends.
Cases like these are easily managed. I use a specialized foot insole called a gait plate to help the feet straighten out. No more pigeon-toes, no more tripping and falling. Here’s the thing, gait plates work the best with younger children. So, don’t delay coming into the office to see if it is the right solution.
Your child wants to sit out of sports
Kids do really well with pain. They’re often able to power through it. There are times, however, where the pain gets so severe when they’re playing sports. It reaches the point where they would rather not play. To us, there’s nothing worse than a child stopping themselves from something they love. Especially because of pain.
There is a very common form of heel pain in children called Sever’s Disease. It affects kids ages 8 to 14. It’s the number one reason why we see kids keeping themselves out of playing sports. If you look online, the prevailing treatment for it is to wait it out because it self-resolves. But with proper treatment from a pediatric podiatrist, your child should feel better in a matter of weeks, if not sooner.
Your child is having trouble keeping up with his friends
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Kids love to run around in packs. It’s wonderful to see a group of kids playing together. But sometimes you see a child who always at the back of the pack. He wants to keep up but struggles to do it. We can write it off as the child not being as athletic, but sometimes there’s more to it.
If that child has flat feet, it takes more energy to run around. So, running makes him tire more quickly and that’ll slow him down. Ask him if his feet are bothering him. You may be surprised that he is having foot pain. Even if his feet are getting tired, bring him into the office. We’ll be able to watch him walk and run to see if there is a cause for his feet feeling the way they do. Most of the time, there is a cause with a very easy fix.
Your child is hiding her feet
Children are prone to developing plantar warts and ingrown toenails. When they get bad, they look pretty ugly. Often, a child will hide these issues thinking that she did something wrong. Of course, it’s nothing that you would blame her for. But she doesn’t know that!
Look for your child wearing socks all the time. Or maybe she won’t let you see her feet because she’s worried about what you’ll think. But look for signs of pain, like limping. Both plantar warts and ingrown toenails can be very painful when they get bad. Also, don’t hesitate to ask to look at your child’s feet. Just know that whatever you find can be treated in our office.
Ingrown toenails are treated with a simple, in-office procedure that provides immediate relief. For warts, we are using our innovative treatment called Swift. Not only does it eliminate warts, it stops them from coming back. Swift has less than a 1% recurrence rate!
Your child is complaining of pain
As parents, we must have a filter. We have to determine if our child is complaining because of something legitimate. We know that sometimes they complain to get out of doing something else. But when it comes to foot pain, if your child is complaining over and over again, you need to listen to them and request an appointment with our Houston pediatric podiatrist.
We don’t think about children having foot pain. But it is more common than you’d think. Every day, we have kids in the office with foot pain. The bad news is that it's almost never a 'normal' part of growing, or something that will just go away with time. But there's good news too: almost all cases are solved with conservative treatment by your pediatric podiatrist in Houston. No surgery needed!
At Tanglewood Foot Specialists, we are set up for kids. We run on time. We listen to them. We make sure they understand what the issue is and how, together, we are going to solve it. We have digital x-rays in the office and diagnostic ultrasound as well. Don’t hesitate to bring in your child for an immediate appointment.
