Toe-walking

Q: My three-year-old daughter still walks on her toes — not just occasionally, but all the time. Our paediatrican has said there’s nothing to worry about as long as we start to see an improvement, but so far nothing has changed and I’m starting to worry.

A: Infants and toddlers just learning to walk may intermittently go up on their toes. By age three, however, almost continuous toe-walking is not the norm and calls for some further evaluation. This may need to be done by a paediatric neurologist or a paediatric occupational therapist; your regular paediatrician can give you a referral for these. If no physical reason can be found for your daughter’s toe-walking, it should be corrected with therapy to prevent the cords in her legs from tightening any further.