If your child is walking with toes pointed in, it may be due to hips that rotate inward. This condition is called femoral anteversion. Your child also will have trouble sitting cross-legged if she has this condition but will easily be able to sit with her legs behind her in a "W" formation. This condition often gets better on its own, with correction happening by the teen years. In the meantime, stretching exercises may help alleviate discomfort.
Hamstring Stretches
Femoral anteversion raises your risk for painful misalignment or instability in the knees. In addition to quadriceps strengthening, hamstring stretches are frequently recommended when this occurs, say "Sports Medicine" authors Eugene Sherry and Des Bokor. The hamstrings are the muscles along the backs of your thighs.
IT Band and Hip Flexor Stretches
If knee misalignment occurs due to femoral anteversion, doctors also may recommend stretching the hip flexors and iliotibial band, says John J. Klimkiewicz, a physician at Georgetown University Medical Center. The hip flexors run across the fronts of your hips. Your iliotibial band is a group of fibers that runs along the outside of your thighs.
Expert Insight
The main mechanism for self-correction when a child has femoral anteversion is walking, not stretching. That's because walking cues the body toward proper alignment, says Roy M. Nuzzo of Pediatric Orthopedics in New Jersey. Kids who do not walk do not see natural correction. The change occurs in the bones, not the joints. However, check with a doctor before encouraging your child to walk more because in rare cases, a child's walking pattern can worsen her condition.
Considerations
If walking does not correct your child's femoral anteversion, he may require surgery. Surgery is considered only for severe cases because there is a high risk of complications. The surgery involves cutting the child's tibia or femur and rotating it until his toes are pointing forward, Nuzzo says.
References
- "Pediatrics"; S.K. Kabra and R.N. Srivastava; 2011
- "Orthopedic Nursing Secrets"; Michael E. Zychowicz; 2003
- "Why Motor Skills Matter"; Tara Losquadro Liddle and Laura Yorke; 2003
- "Sports Medicine"; Eugene Sherry and Des Bokor; 1997
- Pediatric Orthopedics: In-Toeing and Out-Toeing; Roy M. Nuzzo
- Georgetown University Medical Center: Lateral Retinacular Release Rehabilitation Guidelines; John J. Klimkiewicz
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