Cocked Up, Curling, Underlapping, or Overlapping Toes in Children Can’t Be Ignored

Your child may have a deformity in their toe. It’s a common congenital birth defect, which means it’s often inherited and happens at or before birth.

While unnerving for anxious parents, it doesn’t cause any drastic harm immediately. However, it can lead to long-term pain for your child and difficulty with finding the right footwear that fits later on in their lives

The condition is usually noticed early on by parents or family members in infancy. If your child has persistent pain from the situation, or if they have difficulty finding footwear that fits, then you definitely should seek outside help for addressing it.

What Treatments Are There For Toe Deformities?

Surgery may be a necessary approach, and especially so for curly toes on the third, fourth, and fifth toes of your child’s feet. If the deformity is flexible, then the toe’s tendon may need to be released. If the deformity is inflexible, that likely indicates an issue in the bone, part of which may need to be removed.

For overlapping toes, effective treatment depends on how early the condition is noticed and diagnosed. For infants, stretching and taping is used over a 6-12 week period. Reoccurrence is common. In severe cases, it may be necessary to place a pin in the toe to hold it in the correct position.

Treatment of Child Toe Deformities Varies And Work Better the Sooner They Happen

Overall, if you notice your child has a toe deformity, it’s something you have to act on as soon as possible. For many toe deformities, the speed with which you get treatment makes a huge difference in how easy or difficult it is to fix the condition.

The type and degree of the deformity play a large role in how challenging this situation is to address. And, it may take several visits with different experts before you get the right diagnosis and treatment that work for your child.

The sooner you act, even if it is just to find out the condition’s nothing to worry about, the better.