Have you thought about a paediatric foot assessment for your child?

Suresh Sivacolundhublog

A paediatric foot assessment is very useful to help teach your child good postural habits. Particularly if your child is doing a lot of sports, it’s important to check the strength of their posture and balance.

We will include a full family history check, to see if conditions or problems you may have suffered from as a child are relevant to your children.

Paediatric foot exam

Check positions

At The Foot Clinic, our paediatric foot assessment is used to look at the position of your child’s feet, knees, joints, hips and their back. If our podiatrists detect anything outside the normal range, then we can help your child with the right exercise and treatment options.

The paediatric foot assessment helps detect and avoid further problems with conditions like Osgood Schlatter’s and Sever’s Disease or lower back pain.

Sever’s Disease is a common heel injury that is often diagnosed as “growing pains.” It is an inflammatory response in the growth plate of kids heel bones, and often associated with rapid growth spurts and an abnormal foot position.

Paediatric foot exam

Highly active kids may develop this condition. Also, playing intensive sports such as football and soccer, or playing on hard surfaces such as in basketball or gymnastics, puts extra strain on the structures supporting and moving the heel bone. This leads to swelling and pain at the growth plate of the heel.

The good news is that this problem usually resolves within weeks, using the right treatment and exercise mix.

Benefits of a paediatric foot assessment

After a paediatric foot assessment and following the right treatment plan, your child will be less prone to injuries when doing sports, and will benefit from improved performance.

At The Foot Clinic we specialise in monitoring and assessing the biomechanics of the feet and lower limbs. If a problem is detected, there are many treatment options available, of which orthotics and strengthening exercises like short foot are amongst the most effective.