Parents Femoral Anteversion-6 year old has, should we be doing anything

[gymmomtotwo]

So coach pointed out to me that DD intoes especially with one of her feet. Being very unobservant, I never noticed it, but she's always been a big w sitter, so I guess I should have wondered. Anyway, doctor says it is something she will likely outgrow. Doctor Doesn't seem too concerned about her training in gymnastics. Coach works with her on using duck feet and she is experiencing some form issues with toe point etc.

Should she be doing gymnastics? The landings on her feet with them turned in concern me. Will it cause too much stress on her feet, ankles whatever. Anyone whose had experience with this with their DD, I'd appreciate any insight. Coaches are addressing it with her in a very kind fashion and helping her work on it from a gymnastics viewpoint, but is there anything I should do.

 

[Blessed4x]

I would be interested in knowing if this is what Rebecca Bross has? She obviously has done just fine and is amazing to watch, but there is definately something about her feet, especially on bars.

 

[marie83]

I think it would depend on how severe it is. If the dr isn't worried though I don't see any reason to worry too much. Just keep an eye on any pain - I would assume knee and possibly ankles might be most at risk!


We have a few gymnasts with the 'Rebecca Bross' style legs - knees meet but ankles don't. I don't think it is the same as femoral anteversion but I might be wrong! The gymnasts I have seen with this don't tend to turn their feet inwards, unless specifically told to by the coach! On bars it looks much better to have straight legs with toes together and ankles apart than it does to have knees together and a big gap or ankles together and bent knees!

 

[sglemon]

I would talk with a trainer or someone who specializes in sports medicine, chiropractor or even a PT to ask about your concerns, her difficulties, pain if she is experiencing any, the effect on her joints, etc... with her condition. If I were in your shoes, with her doctor not too concerned and the gym willing to work with her, I would just go with it, paying extra attention to joint pains, especially her knees and hips.

Usually a "W" sitter indicates low muscle tone. First I wanted to add, low muscle tone does not mean she can't do gymnastics, dance or anything she wants to. My oldest is high functioning Autistic, with low muscle tone and bilateral coordination issues. His PT told me about the W sitter and low muscle tone. Actually that is one of the "signs" they look for when evaluating. As a result of his low muscle tone, his arches fall, making him walk very flat footed. He does have arches. It almost looks like his feet roll in when he walks. When he was younger, gymnastics was one of the activities we used, to help curb the PT costs. It is wonderful for large, small motor skills, strength building and coordination. Anyways one of the first indications there was a problem, was knee pain. We didn't realize the problem with his walking until he was about 3 yrs old, when he would cry all night because of knee pain. I had him evaluated by a PT then. Today, he runs cross country, swims and play baseball for middle school, we just have to make sure he feet have proper support.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

the gymnastics will help her and this condition. not hurt her.

 

[3gymgirls]

My 6-year-old was also diagnosed with this in August after the family doctor noticed it and her coaches noticed as well. I grew up with tibialtortion, which is what her MD originally diagnosed it as, but the orthopedist said that it is femoral anteversion instead. PT, bracing, surgery, etc. typically are not beneficial or necessary except in extreme cases and most children outgrow it by age 8 or 9. It is most noticeable at around age 5-6. Encouraging criss-cross seating (what we used to call indian style) rather than the W sit will encourage the hips to turn outward and balance beam work especially is good as well. The child also needs to be aware of the condition and make a conscious effort to work towards correction as well. I wrote a note asking that she be allowed to sit cross-legged at school whenever possible since she is petite and her feet don't touch the floor when sitting anyway.

 

[taylortumbles]

I made a post about this last year.
http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/parent-forum/33808-femoral-anteversion.html

Shortly after I posted that my daughter was seen by the pedi and officially diagnosed.
My daughter was diagnosed with femoral anteversion very late in the game, age 8. Typically children do outgrow it between the ages of 8 and 10, but my daughter seems to have gotten worse rather than better. Skills that work the opposite range of motion are good such as gymnastics, ballet, horseback riding, etc. My daughter has been on the waiting list for Equestrian Therapy for almost a year and finally made it to the top and she starts Sept 10th.
Because of femoral anterversion, my daughter also developed Iselin's disease and she sees a specialist to treat both. She wears orthotics that are designed to help both issues, but she complains of knee pain so I'm on the fence about what to do with that.
Good luck. For the most part I have found that it takes a lot of personal research and advocating on your child's behalf to propose treatment options. I read up on the studies of Equestrian Therapy and femoral anteversion in a book written by a pediatrician, don't remember the name off the top of my head, and I brought it up to her pedi. He felt it was a good option and sent the referral. I recently started (a few days ago) a blog about my daughter's struggles with FA and Iselin's because of the lack of info, especially in older children with FA. I haven't made an entry yet, just designed the page. Once I get it up and running full swing this weekend, then I will post a link

 

[taylortumbles]

Ok so this is in the VERY beginning stages, so please bear with me as I learn how to do this. I also wanted to note that I used my daughter's middle name instead of her first.

Taylor Tumbles

 

[Faith]

Wow, thanks for that!

Reading this I'm fairly sure my DD also has some degree of FA. It doesn't seem to affect her too much, except her form suffers as it's difficult to get that straight leg pointy toe thing going when your hips are rotating inwards. Her coaches have noticed and make sure she stretches properly.

Interesting that she swims- Dh is a swim coach and reckons it's really good for swim kicking as the feet turned inwards makes the kick far more effective. He had one of the fastest kicks on his team in his day, and his toes overlap when he kicks...

 

[taylortumbles]

Swimming is an interesting story. I put her in swim lessons at the Y to learn how to swim. She was scared of the water and we had made many attempts to teach her ourselves, but were unsuccessful. She was able to swim after 1.5 sessions (7 weeks per session) of classes and rapidly gained skill from there. They even used her story to get a grant to provide more scholarships for swim lessons for those in need. They have invited her to do swim team several times but we have stuck with the pre-team class for now. Her best strokes are breast and fly and her weakest are freestyle and back. She isn't the faster swimmer out there, not even close, but she does well with stroke technique.
She wouldn't dive at all into the pool up until two weeks ago and her instructor has been trying to get her to dive for about a year. She won't jump off the starting platform and diving off that is out of the question for her right now. Once she decides she feels comfortable doing that, then we will take the swim team invite more seriously.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My 6-year-old was also diagnosed with this in August after the family doctor noticed it and her coaches noticed as well. I grew up with tibialtortion, which is what her MD originally diagnosed it as, but the orthopedist said that it is femoral anteversion instead. PT, bracing, surgery, etc. typically are not beneficial or necessary except in extreme cases and most children outgrow it by age 8 or 9. It is most noticeable at around age 5-6. Encouraging criss-cross seating (what we used to call indian style) rather than the W sit will encourage the hips to turn outward and balance beam work especially is good as well. The child also needs to be aware of the condition and make a conscious effort to work towards correction as well. I wrote a note asking that she be allowed to sit cross-legged at school whenever possible since she is petite and her feet don't touch the floor when sitting anyway.

i had to laugh...you must be an Attorney. LOL.