At Hip2Toe Podiatry we have a specialist interest in looking after your child’s foot care throughout their growing years. Our Hip2Toe Podiatry programs ensure that your children will reach their full foot health potential under our careful guidance. Podiatric medicine and children’s foot care is not the same as podiatry care for adults, as children are going through many bone shape changes, with changing bio mechanical relationships between the feet, knees, and spine. Different growth centre’s need to close in developing bones, before the adult bone size shape and relationship to other bones is set for adult life.
Children’s Foot Care
Children’s foot orthotics from our Cairns podiatry surgery are available, when children’s podiatry care requires biomechanical correction by an orthotic device. The ankle joint region can be very unstable in some children. Some of the symptoms can include Children’s back pain, children’s flat feet, children’s Achilles tendonitis, children’s plantar fasciitis and children’s toe and ingrown nail pain. Leg length discrepancies in children can also be problematic in walking patterns, and children’s intoe gait, pigeon feet gait and toe walking should always be carefully examined.
Our Hip2Toe Podiatry professional children’s foot orthotics involve 3D Laser scan children’s growing feet for an impression, so that the exact representation of the foot can be used to give the highest degree of accuracy in foot orthotic control. Baby’s foot care management is available with the Hip2Toe Podiatry baby’s foot assessment program, allowing a full examination and advice consultation, to allow maximum care and attention to the needs of a growing foot. Avoiding excessive pressure from infant’s feet is very important, as the first year of growth in a baby’s foot is the most important time of growth in a growing foots development. For baby’s foot examination, we recommend bringing in all the details of recent medical examinations, to aid the study of development milestones. Please email us or phone the surgery with any questions you may have regarding these services.
Some children’s foot conditions that require ongoing podiatry care include juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Cerebral palsy, and Severs disease, and children’s foot fractures. Children’s bunions require podiatry assessment, as the pain can often be controlled in our prescription foot orthotics. We are able to assess hammer toes and mallet toes to create more comfort, where children’s toes are concerned.
Children’s Ingrown toesnails
Ingrown nails in children can be extremely painful, and can be caused by many different factors. Commonly children can get shoe pressure on the end of the toes that can lead to the distal nail edge being affected. We are able to carry out simple nail spicule removals, to free the nail sulcus affected, from the extra pressure. We can establish whether infection is present at the time of consultation. All procedures must be carried out with sterile instruments. Even though this is a minor surgical procedure, it must be done under operating theatre conditions, which we are able to offer on a day surgery basis, at our Cairns podiatry surgery. If the area is too painful to treat, we are able to administer a local anaesthetic to do the procedure with no pain. Sometimes a Nail surgery procedure will require full nail section removal with surgical matrix sterilization, under local anaesthetic. Although we regularly do these nail surgical procedures at our Cairns podiatry surgery, we always prefer to offer a less invasive and more conservative solution if possible. This can include foot wear assessments, regular Hip2Toe Podiatry children’s special ingrown nail care therapy, self care instruction, and children’s sporting foot care advice to alleviate further strain on the nails. All too often, full surgical options are suggested without attempting conservative care first. This is highly recommended, and only requires you to book your child into our Cairns podiatry surgery, for a full Hip2Toe Podiatry Children’s ingrown nail assessment program.
Children’s feet and diabetes
The children’s foot in the presence of diabetes is managed at our Cairns podiatry surgery, with our specialist knowledge of the management of children with diabetes and their foot care needs. We can ensure early education in foot inspection techniques and daily foot care, to ensure a long term understanding of the importance of foot care for your child, in the presence of diabetes. We recommend vascular, neurological, dermatological and biomechanical assessment of your child at our Cairns podiatry surgery. In order to prepare your child for ongoing foot care, our Hip2Toe Podiatry Children’s foot care and Diabetes program will ensure ongoing assessment with short, medium and long term management. It is very important for your child to grow up with the knowledge of foot care inspection, foot care techniques, care with socks, and checking insides of shoes for foreign objects or things that may lead to cuts and infection. Any cuts or infection must always be promptly treated, and at Hip2Toe Podiatry at our Cairns podiatry surgery, we can always make sure this care is promptly carried out. Sometimes Hip2Toe Podiatry professional prescription foot orthotics may be recommended, to help prevent further structural problems from developing. Diet recommendations may be discussed to avoid Hypertension, as this can also have adverse effects on the feet of children with Diabetes. If assessment by a Dietician or diabetes educator is required, we can make these referrals, and keep your child’s Pediatrician informed also. If you have any further questions, please email or ring our surgery any time.
Children and Sport
No matter what sport your child is in, we have specialist knowledge of children in sport, and our staff has a vast sporting and dance backgrounds. Foot, knee, and lower leg children’s injuries in sport need specialist attention. We are professional members of sports medicine Australia and can prescribe rehabilitation programs for your child’s sporting injuries. We are able to advise and prescribe return to sport programs, and our Hip2Toe Podiatry Children’s foot and lower limb sporting injury program at our Cairns podiatry surgery will ensure a full history and examination and diagnosis is made, with x-Ray and ultrasounds bulk billed if they are required. We treat children with hockey injuries, Rugby injuries, Aussie rules injuries, soccer injuries , volleyball injuries, dodgeball injuries, cricket injuries, basketball injuries, walking injuries, netball injuries, Tae Kwon Do and Karate injuries, classical ballet injuries and dance injuries, just to mention some of our expertise.
We consult on children participation screening for sports, illness and participation, warming up and cooling down for sport, intensity and amount of exercise and avoiding overuse injuries. Our staff has state, national and international sports podiatry treatment and management experience, and if you have any enquiries, please email us or call us any time. With children the benefits of stretching to warm up and cool down can be enormous, and often help to prevent further injuries. Often a full assessment of footwear for childrens sport can make the difference required to prevent further injury, so please bring your child’s sports shoes or ballet/dance shoes to the assessment appointment. With up to 50% of injuries presenting in the feet, and lower limb being preventable, full Hip2Toe Podiatry child’s foot and lower limb sports assessment at our Cairns podiatry surgery will be of great benefit to your child’s sporting career here in Cairns. We support the policies of the Australian Government Australian Sports commission, Smartplay injury prevention, Play by the rules recommendations, Diabetes Australia and the Asthma foundation of Australia. We are members of the Australian Podiatry Association sports group and Sports medicine Australia and Diabetes Australia. We support the policies of School sport.
Children’s Heel Pain
As you can imagine, what a big day for your child to be walking around school with really painful heels. Heel pain in children can be very distressing, and needs to be carefully assessed to diagnose the underlying cause. Very often inflammation of the plantar fascia insertion into the calcaneus bone can be the source of the pain. Sometimes growth plates in the heel area can be problematic, as in Severs disease, and needs to be carefully treated. All of the GeoClean Health heel pain programs at our Cairns surgery will address the instability problems. Often treatment plans include massage and manipulation, GeoClean Health professional prescription orthotics, proprioceptive range of motion exercises, strapping, and strengthening exercises. Our specialist interest in treating children’s foot problems at our Cairns podiatry surgery will ensure a path to the shortest possible outcome of reducing pain.
