My daughter just got out of her cast from breaking her ankle. I just noticed today (without socks) that she walks a bit crooked on her foot. Is this because she is still healing her leg? There is no cast anymore and I know that she has new bone that has formed in her ankle, which makes it look bigger, but I was wondering if any other parents have experienced this. She doesn't go back to the doctor until January 18th.
B....It is totally normal. Even though her cast is off it still will take time for her to adjust. She has to rebuild the muscle strength. when my daughter had her cast off the Dr said not to worry. She would build it up, and slowly begin to turn her foot and walk normally. It has been a few months and now you would never know that anything had happened to her leg. Hope this helps!
Allison
My son had a couple of sessions of physical therapy after breaking his elbow this spring. Call your ortho's office and ask for a referral - PT's see a lot of cases so they have a good idea of what is normal and expected. (I actually called my son's doctor before our follow-up, too - I had heard some horror-stories about elbow mobility after breaks and wanted to have him seen ASAP. They were fine with it - and he is fine now.)
I would ask these questions over the phone to a doctor, and if he/she says it is an urgent problem go in right away. It might just be normal activity, but i would call your doctor and have a chat just to be safe.
-Timothy J
Hmm definitely check with the doctor she may need a physical therapist to correct her gait:)
Your pediatric bone guy didn't discuss this with you? It's not unusual for a healed bone to look a bit wonky for a while after the cast comes off. My son broke his foot at 16 months, and while it healed up fine, it looked funny compared to the other one for about 2 months. This is apparently quite common for breaks experienced by young children, according to my pediatric orthopedist. Basically, it will likely self-resolve within 2-6 months. My son is now nearly 30 months, and for the life of me I couldn't tell you which foot had been broken without going back and looking at the records.
Hi B.
My 3 yr old broke his femur this past summer. He was casted for 5 weeks and then had a limp for an additional 5 weeks. I wouldn't worry too much but it is worth calling the dr. to make sure.
Good luck
Hi B.,
I am a pediatric physical therapist and this is a common thing after a cast is removed, even for adults. I would call the doctor also since your appointment isn't until the 18th. They might want to take a look at her sooner or refer you to a physical therapist for an evaluation. Please email me with any questions, I'd be glad to help! ____@____.com
My son broke his tibia when he was 2 and had a cast on for a little over a month. After his cast was removed he had a funny walk for a long time(months). The ortho doc prescibed him some physical therapy. I'm not sure how much it helped - or if time was all he needed...but he thought the PT was fun nonetheless! It did take a while, but he was walking normally in no time.
