Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Children's Foot And Leg Pain

Little feet don’t always equal little pain.

Growing Pains

More Than Just A Great TV Show

Children aren’t just little adults (even when they’re seemingly 13 going on 30!). Their physiology differs from ours, meaning they often require different treatments and assessments than adults.

As children grow day by day, it can be easy for them to develop achy legs, legs that tire easily, and issues with their foot or leg posture. For their legs to mature and develop for efficient gait (walking, running, and jumping), they need to reach certain developmental milestones.

When structural abnormalities interfere with their ability to reach these milestones, recognising and addressing these issues may help to ensure their healthy skeletal growth. The earlier these problems are identified, the larger the opportunity for them to catch up with their peers and chase them around the footy field!

Types Of Children’s Foot And Leg Pain Conditions

Many conditions can affect children’s feet and legs. These include:

Flat Foot And Leg Development

Flat feet are where the arches on the inside of the foot are flatter or lower than usual. Excessively flat feet may result in children performing physical tasks poorly and fatiguing quickly. Getting your infants’ eyes and teeth checked is par for the course. So why not get the quarter of their skeleton they will stand on for the rest of their life checked while there is still time to correct it? Book their assessment today.

Growing Pains

Growing pains are also known as overuse syndromes and tend to affect children at night. These pains are often an aching or throbbing feeling and can affect the thighs, calves, and backs of the knees. If your child experiences growing pains, there are treatments that quickly fix it – they don’t just have to ‘deal with it’.

Heel And Knee Pain

Children experiencing pain in the heels may have Severs condition, where the growth plate in the heel becomes swollen and irritated. Pain in the knees may be due to Osgood-Schlatter condition, a repetitive overuse injury of the growth plate which becomes painful, and can swell below the kneecap. These conditions can equally affect inactive clumsy children and active sporty children. Irrespective, these conditions are easily treated.

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Helping Little Feet And Legs

We offer a wide range of treatment options at Foot and Leg Pain Centre. The specific treatment for your child will depend on various factors, such as where the pain is, the type of pain, and its cause.

Some children may benefit from custom orthotics, while others may simply need footwear advice, foot strengthening, posture and biomechanical assessments, manual rehabilitation, or walking and running technique adjustments.

Through thorough and stress-free fun assessment, we’ll diagnose your child and create a custom treatment plan that helps get them back to their active, happy self!

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Why Foot and Leg Pain Centre?

When treating children, we know that a medical setting can often be anxiety-inducing or overwhelming. That’s why we always strive to create a comfortable and welcoming environment for children – not an unnecessarily serious or scary one. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best experience and care possible for every patient – young or mature.

A Team You Can Trust

Dr Angus Chard, PhD, is an internationally recognised leader among his peers– a second-generation podiatrist with extensive clinical experience.

Motivated To Help

The whole team at Foot and Leg Pain Centre is dedicated to helping people, including children of all ages, to reach their goals and reduce their pain.

Evidence-Based Care

In addition to our sunny dispositions and ability to help children feel at ease, we provide all of our treatments with a balance of scientific evidence and clinical experience.

A Note For Medical Referrers

If you are a healthcare practitioner looking to refer a patient to us, we would love to hear from you. We recognise and measure specific developmental milestones in children so that we can follow up and measure them again. This way, we can monitor whether your patients are growing out of conditions such as metatarsus adductus, flat feet, tibial and femoral torsions, and intoed and toe walking positions, to name a few.

Let us help you recognise the urgency for intervention or justification for nature to take its course with our quantified evidence-based approach. We assist in managing chronic conditions in children of all ages and pride ourselves on our experience and dedication to helping children thrive. We are also happy to collaborate with you and receive your patients under the Enhanced Primary Care Plan arrangement. To discuss our approach and expertise, please contact our team today!

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Questions About Children And Podiatry

Won’t my child just ‘grow out of it’?

In some cases, yes. Having your child assessed once provides the foundation for monitoring and ensuring they do ‘grow out of it’. Ignoring concerns may expose your child to unnecessary pain and discomfort, resulting in the windows of opportunity to treat developmental conditions closing as not all children grow out of it nor ‘need to put up with it’. Podiatry treatment can help identify and correct potential problems so your child can avoid pain as they grow.

Is it normal for children to experience foot and leg pain?

While it’s reasonable for some children to experience the same activity-related aches and pains adults experience, it is certainly not normal for them to suffer from persistent achy tired legs and feet. Persistent Growing Pains are easily treated when the underlying cause to muscle overuse is identified and addressed.

When will my child's foot grow an arch?

Children with flat feet have been reported as fatiguing quickly when performing physical activities poorly and functioning with more pathological knee and ankle motions. Arch maturity is reached by age eight, and 39% of adolescent children retaining flat feet may develop knee pain, while 35% may develop hip and lower back pain. Indeed leg development matures by the age of four, and ignoring abnormal foot positions can result in children retaining abnormal walking styles such as ‘pigeon-toed’ and ‘toe-walking’ into adulthood.

What is the minimum age for you to assess my child?

It’s important to note that the earlier the assessment, the better. During your first visit your child’s feet and legs will be measured with a thorough biomechanical assessment and gait analysis. This will allow us to check them again in the future to ensure they do “grow out of it”. All children, including infants, can develop foot and leg pain and structural abnormalities, so a trusted, knowledgeable healthcare professional should address these as soon as possible.

Do I need a referral to book my child’s podiatry appointment?

No – you do not need a referral to book a podiatry appointment, no matter your age or reason for visiting. Simply book an appointment online, or contact the practice directly, and we’ll gather the information we need during your initial assessment.

When should I bring my child in for assessment?

If your child is experiencing foot or leg pain, we can help. If you’re unsure, an initial assessment is best – we will identify the problem and suggest the best course of action. For emergencies, always call 000.

What shoes should I choose for my child?

Children’s shoes should always be comfortable, with enough length and width, including plenty of toe room. They should have a flat, flexible sole that can bend near the toe, a solid heel counter, and the front of the shoe should be wider than the heel. They should have fasteners, such as laces or straps, to keep the feet comfortable in the shoe without allowing for too much movement or slipping. For footwear advice specific to your child’s foot concerns, consult our expert podiatrists today.

Do you adopt an evidence-based approach?

Yes, of course we do. But more importantly, we recognise the importance of balancing the evidence with experience. To blindly follow the evidence is a sign of a naive practitioner. Here are references for the information we have provided on this page:

Alfaro-Santafé, J., et al. (2021). “Effectiveness of Custom-Made Foot Orthoses vs. Heel-Lifts in Children with Calcaneal Apophysitis (Sever’s Disease): A CONSORT-Compliant Randomized Trial.” Children 8(11): 963.
Bleck, E. E. (1983). “Metatarsus adductus: Classification and relationship to outcomes of treatment.” Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 3(1): 2-9.
Chard, B.A., The effect of unsupportive and supportive footwear on children’s multi-segment foot dynamics during gait. 2017. USYD Thesis
Kothari, A., et al., Are flexible flat feet associated with proximal joint problems in children? Gait and Posture, 2016. 45: p. 204-210.
Lin, C.-J., et al., Correlating factors and clinical significance of flexible flatfoot in preschool children. Journal of pediatric orthopaedics, 2001. 21(3): p. 378-382.
Mudge, A. J., et al. (2014). “Normative reference values for lower limb joint range, bone torsion, and alignment in children aged 4-16 years.” Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics Part B 23(1): 15-25.
Redmond A, Crane Y, Menz H. Normative values for the Foot Posture Index. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research. 2008;1(1):6.
Staheli, L., et al. (1985). “Lower-extremity rotational problems in children. Normal values to guide management.” J Bone Joint Surg Am 67(1): 39-47.
Sutherland, D. H. (2001). “The evolution of clinical gait analysis part l: kinesiological EMG.” Gait & Posture 14(1): 61-70.
Sutherland, D. H. (2002). “The evolution of clinical gait analysis: Part II Kinematics.” Gait & Posture 16(2): 159-179.
Sutherland, D. H. (2005). “The evolution of clinical gait analysis part III – kinetics and energy assessment.” Gait & Posture 21(4): 447-461.

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Book Your Child’s Podiatry Appointment

Whether your child is a toddler or a teenager, foot and leg pain shouldn’t be ignored. At Foot and Leg Pain Centre, we work with children and parents to determine possible causes of foot and leg pain and to address them as quickly as possible.

With a wide range of treatments available and an experienced team of podiatrists utilising an evidence-based approach, we’re the go-to team for children’s podiatry in Sydney. To have us help to restore their physical freedom, book an appointment with us today.