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THE ONSET OF WALKING (12-14 MONTHS)
W
hen children have just started learning
to walk their arms are held up high to
aid with balance; they walk really fast and may
trip or fall down. They rely on a wide base of
support to maintain their stability and may
appear bow legged because of this.
They often put their feet down flat on the
ground in full contact and they do not spend
as much time on each leg when clearing
their feet for the next step. Their foot
position appears very flat and flexible and
this is because of the presence of a fat pad
on the bottom of the foot and the position of
the heel bone. Some children may not walk
independently until the age of 18 months.
However, walking delay beyond 18 months
needs investigation. The time when you should
consider buying your child’s first shoes is when
they start to walk assisted and definitely by the
time they are independently walking and ready
to walk outdoors.
There is little high-quality research in very
young children in relation to footwear.
However, a systematic review published in
2011 updated the literature on the effects of
shoes on all aspects of children’s gait, where
they looked at the biomechanical differences
between barefoot and children wearing shoes
(Wegner et al, 2011). They found from their
meta-analysis that shoes affect the gait in
children and that children in shoes walk faster
by taking longer steps and they have greater
knee and ankle motion. Shoes were shown
to reduce foot motion and increase support
during the stance (foot flat on the ground)
phases of gait. During running, they found
that shoes were able to attenuate shock and
encourage a rear foot strike pattern. This is all
valuable existing information about how shoes
impact on a child’s gait but the long term effect
of these factors in relation to a child’s growth
and development are currently unknown.
While shoes are part of your child’s wardrobe
and you want them to be aesthetically
acceptable, the main important factors of
shoes for very young children is to protect
the foot from injury and infection and to
enable walking (Staheli and Song, 2012).
Well-fitting shoes are an essential part
of aiding the optimum environment for
adequate function and to prevent any
potential foot problems. Very stiff, unusually
shaped and compressive footwear may cause
deformity, weakness, and a loss of mobility
and function. As children get older, the role of
footwear will change in relation to their age and
for what activity or situation (i.e. school shoes /
sports shoes) the footwear is required.