will try to be brief... DD is 3.5 and since she was just a bit over 1 and walking we'd notice her do odd things with her legs periodically. I didn't perceive pain back then, but she'd sort of walk and kick one of her legs out with each step. Saw the ped, nothing appeared broken, and even during that appt she seemed better.
Since then she's had a number of odd little falls - odd in that the fall wouldn't look serious but she'd be affected by not wanting to bear weight on her leg for a while. It didn't seem painful when she'd be sitting, laying down, etc, but she wouldn't want to walk on it.
We asked the ped about this and have (this was maybe 9mos ago) a referral to get bloodwork done to rule out a variety of scary-sounding things (lyme, perhaps a sort of leukemia... can't recall right now). Well, after that appt she didn't have any more incidents and I really didn't want to subject her to bloodwork. We did do an appt w/ and orthopedist but he said she looked great and with her not being in a "pain episode" an x-ray didn't make sense. So she'd been fine since last June-ish.
Then a month ago we went to a moonbounce place. She barely even bounced - barely had just walked on one, and then I could tell she'd done the same odd thing to her leg - not in pain except if she put weight on her leg. My poor girl. Ped office was close by and they took us. A different doc saw us and after I explained her history a bit, the doc's first question was "is she flat footed?" DH and I both are, and so is DD. So the doc's conclusion was that her very flat feet don't absorb shock normally and that's what's causing the sprains (first time that word was used to describe it) and also probably supination (or is it pronation?!). She was pretty clear that being flat footed is not something that can change so we just need to support her feet.
So orthodics were recommended and the ped wasn't really concerned, just rec'd getting these special orthodics from a special place (cha ching, I'm sure). MiL suggested asking a place like Stride Rite about a more supportive shoe. I sort of think it's smart to try something like that but then I don't know... are those shoe salesmen really knowledgable?
Soooo, tell me any and all experiences with flat feet, especially leading to injuries. I've wondered if my flat feet have resulted in my knee pain. Aren't our bodies complex and amazing? One part totally relies on the other parts.
Or let me know if you think my ped is barking up the wrong tree. Just don't tell me to take DD to do bloodwork lol. JK of course - but I do want to avoid that unless really necessary...
