WHY SHOULD I HAVE MY CHILDREN'S FEET CHECKED?
From young age children have their eyes, teeth and hearing checked. However foot development, posture and walking are often forgotten!!
SOLE THERAPY specializes in the development and growth of children’s feet. As children’s posture, musculature and bone growth undergo many different changes until the age of 18 it is important to ensure their feet and movements are developing correctly prior or this.
Some important milestones to consider:
- Walking begins between the ages of 8-18 months
- Gross motor skills & hand eye coordination develop between 3-5 years- running,
- jumping, squatting, balance, catching/throwing
- Arches develop and set between the ages of 5-9 years
- All bones fully mature at the age of 18-21 years
- Pelvic and limb development ceases between 16-18 years
Spinal development ceases between 18-21 years
Podiatry and Children
Children’s feet change in length and shape over time, therefore it is important to understand the abnormalities that can associate with your child’s feet and movement. SOLE THERAPY understands the importance of your child’s growth and development and what prevention measures or modifications that could assist.
Signs and Symptoms associated with children’s feet include:
- Flat and high arched feet
- Idiopathic toe walking
- In-toe walking (pigeon-toed) and out-toe walking
- Heel pain – Severs disease
- Knee pain- Osgood-Schlatters disease
- Knee, hip, back, leg, ankle or foot pain
- Tripping
- Plantar warts
- Ingrown toenails
How can SOLE THERAPY help?
SOLE THERAPY’s services for children include:
- Biomechanical assessments – including pressure distribution mapping, computerised gait analysis and posture
- Footwear advice
- Stretching and strengthening exercises
- Orthotic therapy that is custom made on the day, so you don’t have to wait
- General treatments to attend to ingrown nails and plantar warts
The SOLE THERAPY approach to posture and foot strength
Here at SOLE THERAPY we don’t just assess your chief concern, but also assess you from the ground up to identify the primary concern and if any other factors may be contributing.
When you book a biomechanical assessment with us, you can expect the following:
- Assessment of the presenting complaint
- Range of motion examination
- Strength and stability assessments
- Gait assessments via video analysis and pressure mapping treadmill
- Foot biomechanical movements
- Assessment of body positioning in space
- Foot posture index
- Footwear assessments
- Personalised treatment plans including
- Orthotic considerations
- Footwear advice
- Stretching exercises
- Strengthening exercises
Posture
As your feet and lower limb are a foundation for good posture it is important to understand if there are any limb length discrepancies, muscular imbalances or conditions in the spine that may be contributing to poor posture.
By looking at your gait and stance on our state of the art treadmill with pressure sensors we are able to detect any high-pressure areas, hip drop or rotations and abnormal gait.
From the information provided we are able to design a customized orthotic device to align the feet- improving ankle, knee, hip and spine alignment.
Orthotic approach
At SOLE THERAPY we use state of the art equipment to thermo mould orthotics to ensure your child’s concerns are treated on the spot. In comparison to traditional orthotics our customized orthotics are heat moulded and shaped to the foot in a weight-bearing position and completed within 30 minutes. This makes them very comfort driven and always individualized to the whole body posture. We can add unique modifications to the orthotics in our lab on site and at the time of the appointment. We have extensively researched and clinically developed our orthotic designs over the years. Our orthotics are closely reviewed and not only will get your child out of pain but will help improve posture and foot strength over time. Our orthotics use the best material science to allow maximal shock absorption and stability to strengthen the feet. We are unique because we are the only ones in Australia that use this technology the way we do. We pride ourselves on our innovative technologies towards orthotic manufacture and that’s why we can guarantee results.
Contact SOLE THERAPY on (02) 9583 1138 to have your children assessed today.
"Love your body from the sole up"