Does your child need to see a Podiatrist?

Does your child need to see a Podiatrist?

Blog, Kids Feet, Sports Care

5 quick signs you need to see a Podiatrist (Foot Doctor)

When to see a Podiatrist

Kids feet are different to Adults feet! Its the building blocks to making sure our kids enjoy activity

Have you been through this?

Grandma's are great at spotting it. Your friends aren't bad. The Shoe shop lady is often a superstar at it! But lets face it you've got a lot on and the occasional "Mum" or "Dad I am"  ........ shhhhhhhh I have stuff to do! "Just a second but Mum ..... my feet are sore! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!

So you drag the kids down to the plaza and seek out the closest and “best” footwear retailer you know. (Same woman you remember saying vaguely about it last year.) But on the way or while you are there, some funny things happen! You mention it to your “grandma” and she asks about your little ones “Flat feet” and asks have you had them checked! "Remember I mentioned it to you?" Hmm then you head to the shoe shop and the lady who is fitting the shoes asks the same thing. “Have you thought about seeing a Podiatrist” - WOW that's twice now - Houston we have a problem!

Kids and flat feet, growing pains, tripping falling and all that normal stuff! 

It’s not the only time someone may say it but it happens and we hear about it when Parents bring their youngsters into us confused with quotes like “I am not really sure if I should even be here?” So after seeing literally 1000’s and 1000’s of kids over my 20 years of practice I thought maybe a quick check list may help parent on what are the reason you bring your kids to see me !

Here is my quick 6 checklist – these are the reasons I WOULD bring my child to see a Podiatrist!

1. Flat feet. I thought I’d throw this on the mix pretty early as it’s often a reason people are told they need to see a Pod. It can be confusing and often it seems like there is conflicting advice. Here is my rule – If your little one is ONLY flat footed and does NOT have any of the following, you may well be perfectly ok the way they are now! However if they have Flat feet and ANY of the following YOU NEED TO SEE OUR PODIATRISTS !

2. Tripping or falling. You may notice it or it may take someone to mention it to you. With little reason and sometimes without notice your little one trips! Sometimes it seems justified other times it seems like they tripped over a blade of grass! Somethings happening here and yes we may need to take a look.

3. Pain at night or Growing Pains. If your little one wakes at night with pain in their legs, ankles or feet its more than likely time to see one of our team. Now it can be confusing at times you will take them to see a GP and sadly very sadly they will say “Its growing pains” Grrrr 9/10 you can attribute this pain can be treated and you don’t have to wait for them to “grow out of it” If your little one has “Growing Pains” or anything else like that sounds or smells like this – Visit` our team!

4. Kids that don’t like walking or avoid activity. Some kids seem like they are always whinging, you are out shopping or with the family and out on a long walk or other family activity and your child wants to “Sit down” or “stop”. Often we simply think our kids are being Lazy. However for a good proportion of these kids it’s got to do with their poor foot posture making walking harder and yes they are actually in pain! Sometimes kids don’t even realise they are uncomfortable (Its ok, we realise it sounds strange) they just know they want to stop! We have fixed kids foot posture and seen a change that means these kids go from not wanting to walk to almost running!

5. Unusual wear on old footwear. Have you noticed that your kids shoes seem to lean to one side after a couple of months or even weeks? Have you noticed they wear out the toes and have simply blamed it on loads of Handball? This again is in our top 5 reasons for needing to see one of our team!

6. Sore feet or pain at any times. (Ok so this is a sneaky Reason 6!)  It seems simple but if your child has sore feet it means they need to see a Podiatrist. NO you don’t need a referral (Permission slip) from your GP simply call and we will help. YES It’s what we do, we LOVE seeing kids because delightfully they often respond really well and very quickly to our treatment – and who doesn’t like a big smile!

So if your kids have ANY of the above Grandma and the shoe shop lady are actually on the money! If not then guess what you can fairly confidentially not worry!

As we have said above, we LOVE seeing kids. We are very lucky in that we see literally hundreds every year! If you have any of these problems or any other foot or ankle complaints please let us know! We are located in 2 spots in Western Sydney both conveniently located minutes from the M4 and with parking right out the front.
Please call our helpful team on 96732987 and our team will answer any questions and help with making times to see our Podiatrists.

Dr Brenden Brown (BB) Podiatrist
For the team at
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle care

BB with one of his patients, kids foot pain

BB with one of his Patients!

Should I wear a “Moon Boot” for heel pain?

Should I wear a “Moon Boot” for heel pain?

Heel Pain, Uncategorized

Is wearing a Moon Boot going to help Heel Pain?

Should I wear a “Moon Boot” for heel pain? - 1

Should I wear a “Moon Boot” for heel pain?

The Answer?
NO, but why? Its best to settle on some understandings from the beginning. It is widely understood that it is “soft tissue and tendons that are what become sore in Heel Pain. The idea that Heel Spurs “cause” pain has been debunked and proven incorrect a number of times!

Over the last few years there has been an evolving understanding around how tendons and soft tissue works. Keep this in the front of your mind – “TENDONS HATE CHANGE”. Stopping all activity if you are currently active is a sure-fire way to ensure that when you return to your activity you will also see the return of your heel pain!

Boots can “Change” tendons – in a negative way!
As we said stopping all activity is not good for us. That same principal exists for those who are using an air cast or moon boots. Completely removing the function of the foot and calf will mean these muscles will most likely fatigue and lose condition. At best, you will need a delicate and dedicated rehab process to get you back to normal function.

This includes “tears” in fascia’s! We have found there is an ever-increasing body of evidence suggesting that many radiologically identified tears maybe completely normal and part of a normal aging process!

Patients often ask us at the clinic about “booting” or casting them after “a friends” practitioner did this with them their “friend”. All the evidence base suggests that this is often the wrong way forward. In good conscience, we can’t do this. It should be recognized this was once accepted practice, we know we did it!

However the evidence base suggests doing this will unload the soft tissue completely and can in itself start another chain of events and problems which you only have to overcome later! So NO BOOT!

If by chance you are reading this and you’ve been prescribed a boot. I’d respectfully ask your practitioner about what the current evidence base says about this method of treatment?

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Should I change my activity?
You SHOULD make modification to activity; however, a complete stop will mean you either
A. Need to rebuild your activity over quite an extended time.
or
B. Your heel pain is likely to return!

For the moment STOP Jumping of and onto things. For example, on + off a truck, box jumps at exercise class, skipping or other high intensity impacting the heel and forefoot until we have you back to comfortable. We will then slowly load you back up to these activities. As a guide if it hurts STOP IT!

What do I do instead?
Our strong advice is to look for strong supportive cushioned footwear.
What does this mean? Look for the following in Sneaker style or work boot.

1.Always lace up!
2.Bend only at the toes
3.Shoes should NOT bend in the middle!
4.Should NOT twist or wring out
5.Firm heel counter (back of shoe that hugs the heel)

Wear your lace up shoes – From the moment you wake – till the moment you head to bed! No matter inside or outside! No thongs – NO bare feet! This is a far better way of providing the tendons and other soft tissue structures support without immobilizing the foot and creating more problems.

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Need some help?
Our Doctors at A step ahead see between 8 – 12 heel pain patient each every day! Heel pain , sports injuries and musculoskeletal pain in feet + lower legs are our passion. We are often for many people the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th opinion for their heel pain. We are most often the last!

First steps to getting back to pain free?
Give our front desk team a call, they speak to dozens of people a day just like you with problematic heel pain. They will run through with you what you may have tried so far and get a better understanding of your pain. They will then help work out what type of appointment is best to make for you. From here they can reserve your appointment time.

We would LOVE to be able to help you on the way back to becoming Happy Healthy + active.
Our number is 96732987 or 47322007 we look forward to helping you

If you are looking for more information we have a prepared a dedicated page to helping both other practitioners and patients with information on HEEL PAIN. ” Heel Pain Doctor ” has loads of fact and helps busts some of the myths around heel pain.

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