Night braces to correct pigeon toed walking?

[Anonymous]

yup i wore the night braces from age 2 to 5, have had 4 spinal surgeries lower back...age 53 now.

wondering if the pigeon toes/braces could have had significant ramifications to make my back problems worse..?

not blaming anyone just curious.

[Anonymous]

She just started to walk. I tin you are too worried. Maybe it will correct itself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm pigeon toed and my mother put me in night braces from age 2-4. I hated them. I still remember crying each night. I couldn't get out of bed on my own while wearing them (although I'm in my 30s and maybe braces are better.) When the studies came out that there is NO CLINICAL EVIDENCE in support of braces, I really wanted to send my mother a "told you so" note. But of course I didn't.

I would only say to you: why make your poor child suffer for no gain? I'm still pigeon toed to this day. I took yoga and ballet when I was older and this did more than any stupid braces for me, in terms of just keeping me flexible, so I can reposition my feet when I want to.

shame on you ungrateful bitch. she was doing what she thought way was best for you!!!!

Wow - the responder needs a little help.

[Anonymous]

I am pigeon toed, flat footed, and wear custom made orthotics. My left foot turns in more. Have been wearing orthotics since I started walking. I am in my 40's. No problems whatsoever. I remember my mother telling me that my pediatrician wanted me to be involved in things like ballet and sports to help with feet positioning and coordination. My 2yo DD looks like she is going to be pigeoned toed too. But I am told that she might outgrow it. Regardless, I will not be bracing her. Sorry. She has no problems with coordination, walking, running, agility etc.

[Anonymous]

Hi all. I'm hoping to get some response from this old forum. My 8 year old daughter plays travel soccer and competitively dances (yes, we have lots of cost here). However, she is quite pigeon toed, which not only affects her performance in these areas, but I'm very afraid will cause long term issues. We took her to an ortho, and he told us that it is due to her hips, and that she'll likely grow out of it. Likely? She's 8, and it is quite severe. I'd love some opinions on what to do. One quack telling us to do nothing doesn't feel like a game plan to me. Thanks to anyone with an opinion here.

[Anonymous]

My right foot was turned in more when I was a child. I remember getting teased a lot for having pigeon toes and by the time I was in high school it really bothered me. I corrected it myself by straightening it out when I walked. Eventually it got better. Sometimes when I am standing naturally, I see my right foot turned in, I will immediately correct it.

[Anonymous]

I was born pigeon toed with no arch supports and one leg shorter then the other. When I was about 10 a neighbors infant was put in a body cast and my mother told me that was the other alternative to my problems that the doctor gave them. They chose their course of action based on their finances at the time, my father working nights and going to college during the day while my mother was home with me. Also, she was pregnant and would not be able to lift me.

I wore the night brace with the shoes from my earliest memory up until I was 12. I'm in my late 50's now. I have so so many memories of those years. The corrective shoes I was forced to wear all the time, always feeling heavy and clumsy and awkward. The unending physical and mental teasing because of those shoes. No allowed to go to sleepover or have people sleep over because of the night brace. Not allowed to go to overnight camp because of the brace. Crying because my legs hurt so badly. Being unable to turn in bed because I was tucked in so tight. Learning to swim at 3.5yrs then swimming multiple times a week until I was 14, early on hearing my mother describe it as physical therapy. Being hyper-active, drugged for it and always moving but feeling so heavy and slow. Exercises nightly going up and down on my toes. Never being allowed to wear sneakers, not even on girl scout outings, vacations at the beach, haying up at the farm. Learning to swim at 3.5yrs then swimming multiple times a week until I was 14, early on hearing my mother describe it as physical therapy. When I got older and begged for sneakers my mother told me the doctor told them if they allowed me to go around in sneakers I'd be disabled and in a wheelchair by the time I was 30.

I was hyper-active and drugged for it. I wanted to play any and every sport I was introduced do only I was so slow and clumsy nobody would pick me for their teams. Didn't stop me but did send me home in tears at times. I learned to love swimming and the feeling of lightness and freedom it gave me. I started being allowed to wear Keds on Girl Scout hikes and would come home then cry myself to sleep from the pain in my legs, but I never stopped going or wearing the Keds. At 9yrs I begged so hard to play organized softball my father talked to the doctor and my mother saying I should be allowed even if it meant coming out of the shoes and into a pair of cleats. I didn't start out as some wonder player, I was a klutz. LOL But ... all the years with those damned shoes paid off because I was fast. I felt lighter than air and I could really sprint. In the beginning I was in agony after every practice and game and I still had to wear the shoes during the day and at night but gradually, the pain got less and less.

I came out of the shoes during the day at 11 and got my first real pair of sneakers and never looked back. My mother took away the night brace and stopped the nightly exercises when I was 12. By 15 I was playing competitive and school softball, snow skiing, long distance running and of course, soccer. In an era where there was no such thing as soccer moms and at 14 was playing on a 16-18 women's team because they couldn't field enough players. It was so unusual there were only 7 female teams in a 6 county area and major city. I was no natural athlete but I became above average in everything I did because I loved it. I worked and ran and swam and practiced not to get good or get recognition but because I loved it all so much. The feeling of running in sneakers and cleats, always feeling so light and free. I was still doing all those things in my 40's, but not serious competing. Coed soccer, coed slow-pitch softball teams, modified fast pitch women's softball, snow skiing every couple weeks in the winter, and running for the stress release. I injured my back in my mid forties and had to quit it all and before I was fifty I was forced to stop working and go on disability.

So, I don't know if the brace did anything. I did thank my mother for doing what she could and sticking with it because doctors told her to. Then for letting me go and do the things I longed to try and loved to do even though she didn't approve, they weren't ladylike activities. I was a difficult child from Day 1, with hyper activity, physical problems, a huge stubborn streak, and a real smart-ass mouth. My petite ladylike charm and model school graduate of a mother never understood me. But she always tried and she always loved me. And I lasted at lot longer on my own two sneakered feet then the doctor told my parents I ever would.

[Anonymous]

I've been pigeon toed all of my life. I wore shoe inserts as a gift and hated them. In my mid 20s dh and I started ballroom dancing and it did more for me than anything. Our instructor yelled at me constantly and it really improved my walk. I can't imagine making a kid wear braces.

I had X-rays done as a child and my knees are slightly turned inward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My pt said that gymnastics was probably even better than ballet, so we have our two year old in gymnastics for that reason. One exercise she recommended was standing on tip toes, but she said to not over do that.

Gymnastics was the recommendation given to my parents in the 1980s to fix my pigeon toes. Can't tell it was ever an issue. Also turns out I excelled at the sport--eventually won totaled at every level and was a college athlete. My feet never held me back.

[Anonymous]

From a different perspective, we had this issue with my daughter. DH was convinced her pigeon-toed stance needed to be corrected. Our ped's office kept saying it will correct itself. Finally we took her to a pediatric orthopedist at 2.5yo. I suggest you do the same, do not just take the advice of a PT. The Ortho told us basically that there was nothing to be done for it, night braces were not recommended.

[Anonymous]

You should seek a second opinion. FWIW I was pigeon toed as a child (mid-70's) and wore the shoes with braces to bed (I was older -- maybe 3 or 4). It worked but that said get a medical opinion based on current research.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all the responses, but I just want to say that your PT isn't the best person to be giving you medical advice on this. Your ped knows a lot, but you should really see a specialist about this and get their opinion. I would ask your ped for a referral and try to get a couple of different opinions on what's going on, why, and what would help. Does she has low tone? Is it a habit from knee-walking? Is it due to the formation of her bones in a certain way? I think you need to find out more about the cause behind it before you address the issue, and I think PT should be a huge part of that even if you decide to do other things. However, I agree that your PT may not be the best person based on the fact that the PT seemed to throw out an idea that may not have been proven to be effective.

[Anonymous]

I was born in 1962 and wore the high ankle shoes with an adjustable bar in the middle at night as a toddler. Without the brace both of my feet turned in severely. I have a film of me at about 4-5 years old running in a field and my two feet were over-lapping as I ran, I have no idea how I kept from falling down but I did. I'm not sure why I stopped wearing the brace, but I would imagine I had a fit about wearing them (to this day I can't sleep if my feet are covered I call it foot closterphobia). The brace, or just growing, did help enough that my feet don't slap each other when I walk anymore, but I'm still very much pigeon-toed and flat-footed. It never stopped me from doing anything while growing up, I don't remember ever being teased about it and most of the time o loved being pigeon-toed because I was different and I felt that made me special. There were times when I began to work in an environment that called for dresses and high heels when I tried to walk straighter, but wearing high heels was never comfortable for me. I've always had a very hard time finding comfortable shoes that fit my wide flat feet and even orthotics haven't helped. Usually I've resigned to only wearing sneakers or those rubber sandals. I've always been the most comfortable just being barefoot.

The reason I'm writing today is to ask if anyone that is pigeon-toed has had any muscle issues or Fibromyalgia? The Rheumatologist tells me I have some auto-immune disease that causes high inflammation rates in my body, among many other things. Whatever is wrong with me has been going on in some form for as long as I remember and really effects my muscles. I hurt all over every day like I have the flu and have been hit by a Mac truck. My whole spine is out-of-whack (bulging and herniated discs in my upper and lower lumber, spinal stenosis, DDD) supposedly due to muscles not having the ability to hold my spine stable anymore. Today I started thinking about being pigeon-toed and wondered if it's possible it could be related to some disease that has never been recognized. I imagine that sounds crazy to most, but I've never been diagnosed with any shin or hip issues related to being pigeon-toed, so maybe there is one form of being pigeon-toed that is caused by something to do with a muscle disease?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is 28 months old and started walking at 11 months. I noticed right away that she had pretty severe in-toeing and finally got approved to take her to the Orthopedist for an eval when she was 15 months old. He had hip and foot x-raye done and said that her hips were turned in more than 60% (normal is about 15%) so they were making her feet turn in as a result. He is old school (approaching 70) and says that he rarely recommends braces these days and usually prescription orthopedic shoes and exercises with a PT does the trick. DD has been in special shoes (Markell Tarso Shoe) for a year now and she is almost "fixed". I would suggest taking her to an orthopedist and asking about shoes. DD wears these shoes all day, every day. They look just like the old school shoes we all had, those leather boot-like shoes. They are a but of a pain to get off and on but she seems very comfortable in them and they have obviously done the trick. From what I hear about the braces, it can be tricky b/c a lot of kids figure out how to get them off at night so they end up not in them for very long.

My DH is a podiatric surgeon and this is what he recommends as well. Orthopedic shoes and/or inserts almost always fix the problem. No need for night braces.

[Anonymous]

I'm pigeon toed. My mom took me to a specialist when I was younger (maybe 8 or 9) after I didn't 'grow out of it'. The Dr recommended I wear flippers around the house as braces do nothing and it would exercise my muscles and allow them to stretch so my feet wouldn't turn in.

Needless to say, I wore flippers once until my brother made fun of me lol. I actually find the timing of this post funny- I made an appointment to see someone about my sore knees and hips next week! I have had issues with my knees dislocating and pain after exercise for years and just had accepted thiss was how it would be. My DH convinced me to try PT so I'm going that route now.

As far as your child- I would follow your doctor but I wouldn't do anything like braces with no clinical evidence to support it. There are other options- it just might need to wait until she is older!