Another school year is about to start and school shoes are one of the most important items on the shopping list for many parents.
There are footwear shops in Adelaide which specialise in fitting school shoes for children. Let the professionals help you! They’ll measure up their feet properly and recommend the right shoes for comfort, and to support healthy development and growth of your children’s feet.
At Sanders Podiatry clinics, we have family-friendly podiatrists experienced in a range of issues that present themselves in children’s feet. Children’s feet change quickly with age and their development is influenced by their activities, sports, their height and weight.
The characteristics of a good quality and supportive school shoe
To help you choose the right shoes for your children, we’ve listed 6 characteristics of a good quality and well-fitting shoe. With 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 tendons, muscles and ligaments, this intricate and highly developed structure needs great care to develop and form properly. Therefore correctly-fitting shoes play an important role. You can find out more here.
How to choose the right school shoes for your children
Have you noticed your child favouring one foot over the other, or have they changed their walking style?
Foot problems in children can go unnoticed for a long time. When kids feel pain in their feet, they tend to try and adapt by changing their gait or posture to ease the discomfort so that they can keep up with their friends at school. However, this can lead to other problems such as a misalignment of the foot, or ankle, knee and back pain.
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Flat feet and what you can do
The arch in the foot is the upward curve from the heel to the ball. Feet that have flat arches or “flat feet” aren’t actually flat. They are rolling inwards at the ankles and heels, which gives them the appearance of being flat.
This rolling in motion is called overpronation. If your children’s feet are overpronating, the outer part of their is touching the ground first when they walk and this causes the foot to roll into the arch, and in turn causes the arch to flatten.
Arches in feet can change over time and in certain circumstances. Infants have a flexible flat foot which develops into an arched foot as a child, and then a full sized foot by late teenage years. Some feet don’t develop arches and if you suspect this may be the case with your child, please call us and we’ll assess their feet and recommend a treatment plan.
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Is your active teen complaining about sore feet?
We have many teenagers visiting our clinic for a variety of foot problems, most commonly ingrown toenails, warts and flat feet. A teenager’s physiology changes rapidly during these years which includes their feet. Soft ligaments and bones are changing structure and growing to support a larger body mass, so “growing pains” are common and not a cause for concern in most cases.
We see many issues resolve themselves at home, or with a little bit of help from our podiatrists. The most common foot complaints in teenage children’s are ingrown toenails, Severs disease (which is not actually a disease) and plantar warts picked up from the gym or pools.
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Growing pains or Severs disease?
Severs disease is not a disease but a condition that occurs in kids feet, affecting the heels. Itc an be painful and affects children between the ages of 7-14 years who are active and play regular sports. It’s a common complaint in children after repetitive stress on the heel bone. It’s important to treat Severs Disease and alleviate continuing pressure on the heel so that children can happily continue their activities.
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Plantar warts under the feet?
Plantar warts occur on the soles of the feet and can cause discomfort and pain. We recommend getting them attended to as soon as you can, especially in young children who quickly learn to compensate for pain and alter their gait accordingly. This can lead to other structural problems in their feet, legs and hips.
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Make an appointment with the Sanders family-friendly podiatry team
Our team of podiatrists work from Linden Park, Stirling and Mt Barker, and specialise in children’s foot health. Please call us and make an appointment with our family friendly podiatrists for a general podiatry check up or to have any concerns about the health of your kids’ feet. We look at their walking style, alignment, and provide treatment or orthotics as needed.
Give us a call at one of our clinics below.
Sander Podiatry Adelaide – 08 8379 1456 (Greenhill Podiatry)
Sander Podiatry Stirling – 08 8339 3344
Sander Podiatry Mount Barker – 08 8370 1590