5 Exercises to Cure Flat Feet

As a birth defect, the club foot makes a baby’s foot turn either inward or downward. The congenital deformity can occur in one foot or both feet. The symptoms and conditions of the club feel can be mild or severe. Often parents find it difficult to understand and identify symptoms of club foot early and accurately.

But the skilled medical professionals identify club foot based on a number of symptoms and conditions – a foot turning inward or downward, the club foot appearing smaller than the other foot, the calf muscle in the affected leg appearing smaller. They diagnose the birth defect by observing and inspecting the appearance of the baby’s foot.

Sometimes they need to order an X-ray of the club foot to inspect the foot and detect the congenital condition visually. The experienced medical professionals start treating club foot by stretching or reshaping the baby’s foot on a regular basis. However, they need to perform surgery when the club foot is severe.

The skilled medical professionals advise parents to perform a number of simple and easy exercises with their child suffering from clubfoot. In addition to complementing the stretching techniques these exercises also help the parents to treat the foot disorder over a period of time.

5 Simple and Easy Exercises to Treat Club Foot Effectively

1. Foot Abduction

The parents can make the child complete the exercise in 10 seconds. But they need to repeat the foot abduction exercise 10 times. They can start the exercise by making the baby lay on his back. Then they need to grasp the forefoot with one hand gently while holding the calf with the other hand. Finally, they have to rotate the foot outward gently while putting pressure on the base of the big toe.

2. Ankle Dorsiflexion

The child with club foot can perform the exercise in 10 seconds. But the parents must make the child repeat the ankle dorsiflexion exercise 10 times. After laying the baby with its back, the parents need to put one hand or palm under the baby’s heel while grasping the baby’s calf gently with the other hand. He or she needs to keep raising the baby’s foot slowly till he starts resisting. However, the parent must not forget to pull the baby’s heel down and bend his ankle while performing the exercise.

3. Squat

The parents can keep the child’s ankle flexibility by extending their calf muscles. They must encourage the kid to do squat while walking on a regular basis. The squat position will make the child keep both his feet flat on the floor. The parents can observe the position of the club foot in a squat position and advise the child to extend his calf muscles. They also have the option to keep the club foot in squat position by asking the child to jump like a kangaroo or walk like a bear.

4. Muscle Strengthening

As the child with club foot starts walking, the parents must focus on strengthening his muscles. They must make the child perform foot abduction and ankle dorsiflexion exercises to make the muscles strong. While performing the exercises, the child keeps pulling his foot up and out. The parents must encourage the child to touch the finger which they put at the outer edge of the foot.

5. Using the Foot

In addition to repeating these exercises, the child also needs to use his foot on a regular basis. The parents must encourage the kid to use his foot regularly. For instance, while relaxing on the beach the parents must request the kid to draw figures on the sand using his feet. Likewise, they can make the child create a rainbow on white-sand using a windshield wiper.  The parents must ask the child to indulge in activities that require him to keep the heels down consistently.

The parents cannot identify symptoms of club foot without availing medical attention and treatment of a skilled orthopaedic surgeon. In addition to diagnosing the foot disorder, the skilled medical professional will start treating club foot non-surgically. He will further help parents to cure the congenital condition by making the child repeat some simple and easy exercises.