Paediatric Orthopaedic Service/ Toe problems
Information Version 3 (Code: 4.6.3)
Date of Issue: August 2017
Date of review: January 2022
Review Date: January 2025
If review date has passed, the content will apply until the next version is published
It is very common for children’s toes to overlap each other and appear to be curled up. This is because children’s toes are small and very flexible. Although the toes can look a bit funny it is very rare for this to cause any problems. Having curly toes does not affect a child’s ability to walk or cause them to trip up.
Most curling, overlapping or under-riding of children’s toes improves slowly as their feet grow. Their toes become less flexible and lie straighter. This happens naturally during growth and is not affected by strapping or toe splints or special shoes.
There is no simple operation to straighten a child’s toe and surgery can result in a stiff, short and painful toe which is far worse than a curled up but painless one. For this reason we very rarely recommend surgery for children’s toes and only consider it if the curled toe is painful and blistering.
The most important thing for a child’s foot development is to ensure that they have adequately sized shoes. This means that children under 3 years should have their feet measured every 3 months and children older than this should be measured at least every 6 months.
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