Night braces to correct pigeon toed walking?

[Anonymous]

For those of you who wore "night braces" in the 70's...you should realize that these are not the metal braces of yesteryear. They are made of neoprene and have cartoon characters on them. At most they have some plastic fill. No one is talking about hard-Frankenstein-style metal braces.

A PT should not prescribe these. Even a pediatrician is not really qualified. A physiatrist (physical medicine specialist) or orthopedist should prescribe.

[Anonymous]

I was born in 1974, my parents also had me on the night braces, they were hard white walking shoes with a copper or metal bar you could tighten with a screw on the bottom as opposed to breaking the legs. My mom put me in ballet when I was 3 and I loved it and danced for 15+ yrs. I know that ballet and yoga helped me however the hip arthritis/sciatica r the worst. The most comfortable position is toes in even when I'm sleeping. Does anyone else have hip pain that used the night braces???

[Anonymous]

I know this is an old thread, but I want to add my experience for anyone else looking for some advice.

My little brother was born severely pidgeon toed and knock kneed. He was born in 1992. His pediatrian referred us to an pediatric orthopedist, who suggest he use a night brace due to the severity, to avoid possible difficulties once he started walking.

I don't remember how long he wore the night braces for (I was 10 at the time) but, by the time he started walking, he had a dramatic improvement with no paid or complications.

He is 20 now, and you never would have known how inwardly rotated his feet were. He is incredibly athletic and runs cross country. We as a family had a wonderful experience with the night braces, and know that we avoided possible later complications had his body not corrected it on its own, as some children are known to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was born in 1974, my parents also had me on the night braces, they were hard white walking shoes with a copper or metal bar you could tighten with a screw on the bottom as opposed to breaking the legs. My mom put me in ballet when I was 3 and I loved it and danced for 15+ yrs. I know that ballet and yoga helped me however the hip arthritis/sciatica r the worst. The most comfortable position is toes in even when I'm sleeping. Does anyone else have hip pain that used the night braces???

that's interesting. i'm the poster from very early on who wore braces from 2-4 and cried every night, because they made sleeping such a torture and i couldn't get out of bed and so forth. and of course for all that misery, i'm still pigeon toed. i do have hip pain. it's especially if my legs are wide (as in during, ahem, adult activities.) i've never thought about it as related to braces... interesting.

[Anonymous]

I didn't wear night braces but I have hip pain if I don't wear my custom orthodics. Have you tried them?

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to add that I was pigeon toed. I never had night braces and the problem didnt appear that it was going to correct itself. When I was in the 3rd grade I was fitted with twistoflex leg braces. They were basically steel cables that ran from a belt to a steel plate in the outside edge of the heel of my shoes. Tension to gradually force my feet into alignment was adjusted with a hex key wrench at the hip attachment. They worked great. It was a pain having to wear shoes all the time and an even bigger hassle to have to have my shoes on before my pants but my mom was able to sew zippers in my pants legs which made it all work out. Now this was back in the 1960's. I would expect better technology today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was born in 1974, my parents also had me on the night braces, they were hard white walking shoes with a copper or metal bar you could tighten with a screw on the bottom as opposed to breaking the legs. My mom put me in ballet when I was 3 and I loved it and danced for 15+ yrs. I know that ballet and yoga helped me however the hip arthritis/sciatica r the worst. The most comfortable position is toes in even when I'm sleeping. Does anyone else have hip pain that used the night braces???

Yes! I know exactly what you are talking about. born in 73, had the braces, the same ones you describe. my only difference is that i was never able to touch my toes my entire life. now, if you do the math, i am 39 and get into extreme pain in my hips and down my legs. it sucks! i have considered it to be related to the braces, because of the method of correction it applied, but only recently did i put it together.

I have no idea what type of doctor to go see, but there must be some kind of physical therapy that could be applied. I stretch daily now, because if i dont, i do not get any sleep.

I post this here for two reasons:
# I am glad to have found this thread. no one ever knows what i am talking about when i mention the braces, woke up in PAIN every night, my Mom running into my room to rub my legs to get me back to sleep.
# Being a parent as well, i just wanted the other readers considering this approach to really consider the decision. in no way suggesting either route, just saying that all these years down the road, and the pain is pretty bad.

[Anonymous]

As a new walker at one y.o., I wore night braces. My parents tell me that I liked them and would ask to wear them. They worked for me! Corrected the problem within a year. You would never guess I had a problem.

[Anonymous]

I found these posts while looking for comments from adults with in toeing or metatarsus addutus. My 6yo daughter still has severe in toeing, one of the 5 % that didn't grow out of it. Visited a podiatrist to get school shoes who made me feel like the worst mother in the world for not having her in special braces and shoes since before she could walk. I had two paed orthopods when she was 2, tell me braces, orthotics etc did NOT work and she was likely to grow out if it. It seemed to be improving a little at 5 yo, but now looks severe. Despite this she is not in pain, is a fast runner, not overly clumsy and a generally happy, delightful child.
I wondered if anyone could provide experience of untreated in toeing in adulthood or surgery to correct ( which I am hoping to avoid).
Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am a 41 yr old who got braces when little for pigeon toes. I remember them vividly and they were very painful. Throughout my adult life I've had to deal with pain radiating from my right hip down my leg to my foot. I can aleviate it if I stand and walk with my toes slightly inward. I believe the brace treatment screwed up my leg. Im a runner and for me to run pain free I have to run pigeontoed. The problem is that the treatment done as alittle girl rewired my brain to thinking that pigeon toed is bad and the ballet positioning of toes outward s good. (I was made to take ballet because of this.) I've had to work hard on rewiring my brain to walk with my toes inward a little but if Im not vigilant I will automatically correct my feet and turn them outward despite the fact that its uncomfortable for me. I wish my parents would not have made me use the braces. I hope this helps in making your decision. If your child is happy and healthy what does it matter if she walks with her toes inward?

[Anonymous]

I wore braces around the clock when I was young. The kind that attached to my shoes. So when my DD started walking at 9mo, and we saw she was clearly pigeon toed, I was worried and went to the ped. He assured me that kids grow out of it and most likely the braces didn't correct my own problems, but time did. Now DD is 3 1/2 and not pigeon toed at all--and her feet were REALLY turned in. Just a side note, my foot that turned in gave me a hard time with proper turnout in ballet and I to this day can't properly do the breast stroke kick!

[Anonymous]

My husband wore those braces as a child for his feet b/c they turned inward. The braces over corrected the problem because he stands with feet rotated noticeably outward. He has chronic hip pain, leg pain accompanied by nerve problems in the performis area of his pelvis. He has problems sitting for any length of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD only recently started walking on her feet at 17.5 months (she had been "walking" on her knees since 12 months but she's now finally getting around on her feet!). A physical therapist recommended night braces to correct DD's wide-stanced, slightly pigeon-toed walking, but our pediatrician disagrees saying that the studies indicate that night braces almost never correct the problem. The PT admits that this is what the studies show but she still thinks it's worth a shot because she has seen the braces actually help some kids. Does anyone have experience with using night braces on their kids? Was it successful? Was your child able to actually sleep in them? How long did your child have to wear them before you started seeing progress? Thanks so much for your help.

Guessing the PT can sell you braces, coincidentally.

[Anonymous]

I wore "The Shoes" (with the bar between) when I was a baby. Just turned 31 and I'm starting to have hip pain. It feels like my bone is aching all the way from my hip down to my knee. Just looked up "pigeon toe hip pain" on a hunch. I have the same problem with the breast stroke kick as whoever above. The braces did not correct my pigeon toes. I work as a floral designer, sometimes 8 hrs on my feet. The pain is just getting worse. I'm glad to know there are others. Please share more stories!

[Anonymous]

I'm one of the earlier pps. I'm in my 50s and have DCs who are pigeon toed and both athletes. I'm also pigeon toed never wore the corrective brace nor did my children. I've not experienced any hip pain maybe yoga and stretching daily has been helpful. One of my DC's a college athlete who wears orthodics and my younger DC is a teen who is involved in three sports. He's a swimmer who continues to struggle with his breaststroke form, fortunately he excels at the other three strokes. Their ped told me to fore go the corrective brace for both when they were toddlers. Both started walking by 8-9 months as did I, supposedly this isn't a good thing and you should encourage babies to crawl for as long as possible.