Children’s Foot Development
How often should you have your child™s feet measured?
Under 12 months old: Every month
1-2 years old: Every 2 months
2-3 years old: Every 3 months
3 years and above: Check your child’s feet and their footwear at least every 6-8 weeks
When a child is developing, parents often focus their concerns on their children™s: teeth, hair growth and social and intellectual capabilities etc, however sometimes the feet get forgotten about! Properly fitting footwear throughout childhood is essential for healthy foot development.
It may come as a shock that recent research (Glasgow Caledonian University Podiatry Dept, 2010) reported worrying findings such as:
22 œIll-fitting footwear in over 50% of children and œ83% of primary school children at 5 years of age were wearing footwear that was too small.
Now you might be thinking to yourself that in the grand scheme of things this is not a major cause for concern and that children don’™t often complain when their shoes are too small. Well unfortunately, inadequate footwear can cause permanent structural deformation.
There is a reason for the possible lack of footwear induced pain complaints from children, likely involving the structure of the young developing foot.
Children’™s feet are not a miniature replica of adults. The difference may appear to be size and obviously the cute factor. However, a child™’s foot is composed of varying amounts of relatively soft/malleable cartilage (the flexible substance also found in your ears and nose) whereas an adult™’s foot is mostly bone. Thus, the younger and softer foot is more vulnerable to deformity from abnormal, repetitive pressure.
How do our children™s feet grow?
Children’s feet do about half their growing up until they are four and from then after they develop at a steady rate. Studies show that during the first ten years of a child’s life the foot grows about one-half inch a year and between the age of 10 and 20 the yearly growth rate slows down considerably.
Newborn and Pre-school Feet
The foot of a newborn is mostly cartilage. From 2-12 months old the foot will develop very quickly and consists of 40% cartilage, so tight fitting footwear in infancy can result in permanent structural damage. When a child reaches 3 years of age much of the cartilage has become bone and by age of 6 all bones have taken shape. However, the bones do not completely mature until 18-20 years old. So until then they remain partially composed of cartilage. Thus they are still susceptible to deformity from abnormal constrictive repetitive pressure.
What is a good shoe?
An adequate shoe can be described as footwear which does not restrict the natural function of the foot and which gives adequate protection from climate and local environment. (See also our previous blog on œChildren™s Shoes). Clark™s shoe shops have properly trained shoe-fitters in store and will be glad to measure your child™s feet (for free). They also supply a wide range of footwear in both different width fittings and half sizes. Check out our helpful tips on good children’s shoes here.
How often should you buy new footwear for your child?
During the first 12 months development of the foot structure will occur rapidly, possibly going through 3 or 4 sizes – if your child isn’t walking yet, it is best to avoid putting their feet in shoes altogether. Just make sure their feet are warm enough in socks. Even toddling, it is important for the child to feel the floor and the foot to react to it – barefoot toddling actually helps child foot development. Remember too that toddler feet should be chubby looking with no ‘arch’ visible yet – these muscles, bones and tendons develop over years, aided by barefoot toddling. When your child is ready for their first pair of shoes look for the following attributes (click here for our advice).
Feet should be measured monthly the first year, every two months between the ages of 12 months and 24 months, and every 3 months from 24 to 36 months. Then after, footwear checks should be carried out every 6-8 weeks and footwear changes every 3-4 months.
Remember: Children outgrow their shoes before ˜wearing them™ out! Call us on 04 3435390 for a friendly and informative review and advice of your child™s feet and footwear. We strongly recommend that all children attend a Podiatrist for a routine foot health review when they first start school at 4-5 years old. If there are any issues, it is a great time to catch and address these early, preventing problems in later life.
