LAKE OCONEE — “Is it a good idea to have my children’s feet checked? I’ve never asked my pediatrician to look at them.”



Absolutely! Having your children’s feet checked is really one of the most important things you can do for them.

Frankly, it’s very unfortunate that so little importance is relegated to the human foot. Look at how much emphasis is placed on having your child’s teeth checked and they’re replaceable!

Your child’s feet are the foundation of their entire weight bearing structure, so having them examined is critical to their skeletal development. This is not only important in preventing bone and joint problems such as arthritis, but can also help them perform better in sports; quite beneficial in the competitive environment they will all face.

In addition, a structural foot evaluation can help them avoid many sports injuries. I saw a young girl who broke her foot while playing soccer.  Contrary to what she was told at the hospital, this wasn’t just a “soccer injury.”  The tight calf muscles she had made it impossible for her to pick her feet up properly while running, so she tripped, twisting and breaking her foot.

When you consider that in their average lifetime, your child will walk over four times around the world and carry over nine hundred thousand billion lbs of pressure on their feet (now that’s a number!), it might not be a bad idea to prepare those two “orphan structures” at the end of their bodies, for the journey!  If you planned an extended trip, you would certainly do the same for the tires on your car.

Children’s feet are not usually examined thoroughly…but then neither are those of adults.  If a child’s foot problem is identified, parents are sometimes told that their children will outgrow it.  The truth is you don’t outgrow most foot problems, but to the contrary, you grow into them; i.e., the flexible, usually easily correctible problems seen, become fixed, rigid, often painful problems as they grown and develop.

The fact is the earlier a child’s foot problems are identified, the easier it is to correct them.  For example, there is a condition called metatarsus adductus in which the long bones of the foot (metatarsals) are turned inward.  Even in severe cases, when identified in a very young child (before the age of two), serial plaster casting is often very successful in correcting this problem.  After age two, even advanced surgery may correct the problem.

As mentioned above, the foot is the foundation of our entire skeletal system.  It supports all of the weight bearing joints of our ankles, knees, hips and back.  Since many problems we see in adults are preventable, if anyone in the family has problems in any of these areas,(such as arthritis) having your child’s feet examined becomes even more important. 

A foot evaluation is critical to your child’s bone and joint development as well as in helping them be all they can in sports.  And unlike a dental exam which you are told needs to be done with some frequency, a thorough foot evaluation can be done much less often and still have profound positive effects.

— A former reconstructive foot and ankle surgeon and past clinical instructor of Medicine at Emory, Dr. Pack practices at MCG in Greensboro. He works with patients who have arthritis and wish to decrease joint symptoms and remain active without medication or surgery. Dr. Pack also treats athletes at all levels. In the 2004 Olympics he had a silver and gold medalist, and helped the UGA Golf Team (2005 NCAA national champions). For further information please see www.drloupack.com, drloupack.blogspot.com or contact him directly at (706) 454-0040.