Many parents can remember wearing special Orthopaedic shoes when they were children. These were intended to correct a variety of deformities and improper alignments of the legs and feet. Sometimes such devices were placed on “normal” feet to prevent a child from developing problems.

Why have these special shoes, once so commonplace, become so rare nowadays? This is because these devices have been found to be unnecessary or ineffective for many of the conditions they were supposed to treat. Extremes of In-toeing and Out-toeing are much more frequent in children than in adults, and there is a natural tendency for children to correct with growth. Improvement without treatment is so reliable that it is difficult to prove that any intervention is helpful.

It has been also shown that flat feet, seen so often in pre-schoolers, are much less common in adults. A study in Dallas examined children treated with various special shoes and compared them with a matched group of children wearing regular shoes. After three years, all groups showed a tendency toward developing an arch, but there was no measurable difference in the kids treated with special shoes and those wearing regular flat shoes.

Children with neuro-muscular diseases or with birth defects of the foot may require special braces. For normal children without foot pain, the advice of orthopaedic surgeons is that shoes be chosen on the basis of fit, comfort, and cost.