About Toe Walkers...

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Idiopathic Toe Walking in kids..Is it flexor dominance?

You see this at times in the office. Kiddos (or adults) who walk on their toes for no apparent reason. many have shortened heel cords with limited ankle dorsiflexion (1,2). Some studies report an incidence of 7-24% in pediatric populations (3) with an average of about 5% in children that are 5.5 years old (4). It seems to occur in about 2% of normally developing kids aged 5.5 years and 40% of those that have some sort of neuropsychiatric diagnosis or missed a developmental window (5-7), with an increased incidence familialy (8). The question here is why, not what.

We have discussed our opinions of flexor dominance here many times and suffice it to say that increased corticospinal activity seems to have the double whammy effect of increased firing of the distal flexors due to a lack of input to the axial extensors in the rostral and caudal reticular formations respectively(possibly from decreased spindle and /or GTO input and/or mechanoreceptor dysafferentation?) and lack of reciprocal inhibition of the extensors from the increased firing of the flexors segmentally. Is it the cortical abnormailities and missed developmental windows seen in so many of these folks that drives this? These are the sorts of things that keep us up at night....

Physical treatment modalities (2) seem to help, we think most likely to plastic changes in the connective tissue. Orthotics may prove useful due to similar mechanisms, especially if there is an equinus deformity or forefoot to rearfoot abnormaility (9). More agressive (and invasive) measures like Botox, seem to not. An interesting study using whole body vibration (10) produced some immediate but short lived positive results. This really gets you thinking about joint and muscle mechanoreceptors and the cerebellum, and makes us think that perhaps we also should be looking (and treating) north of the foot. We could not find any studies looking at the effects of proprioceptive or vestibular exercises effects on this, but think it could be promising area of therapy and we will continue to employ them until our clinical results tell us otherwise. 

1. Barrow WJ, Jaworski M, Accardo PJ. Persistent toe walking in autism. J Child Neurol 2011;26(5):619-621

2. Harris NM. Multidisciplinary approach led to positive results for pediatric patient with idiopathic toe walking. Presented at the Association of Children’s Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics Annual Meeting, Broomfield, CO, April 15, 2016.

3. Engelbert R, Gorter JW, Uiterwaal C, et al. Idiopathic toe-walking in children, adolescents and young adults: a matter of local or generalised stiffness? BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011;12:61.

4. Engström P, Tedroff K. The prevalence and course of idiopathic toe-walking in 5-year-old children. Pediatrics 2012;130(2):279-284.

5. https://tmblr.co/ZrRYjx1VV59rl

6. Williams, C. , Curtin, Wakefield and Nielsen Is idiopathic toe walking really idiopathic ? The motor skills and sensory processing abilities associated with idiopathic toe walking gait.  J Child Neurol 2014, 29:71

7. https://tmblr.co/ZrRYjx1WTNcdK

3. Is idiopathic toe walking really idiopathic ? The motor skills and sensory processing abilities associated with idiopathic toe walking gait.  J Child Neurol 2014, 29:71 Williams, C. , Curtin, Wakefield and Nielsen

8. Pomarino D, Ramirez Llamas J, Pomarino A. Idiopathic toe walking: tests and family predisposition. Foot Ankle Spec 2016;9(4):301-306

9. Herrin K, Geil M. A comparison of orthoses in the treatment of idiopathic toe walking: a randomized controlled trial. Prosthet Orthot Int 2016;40(2):262-269.

10. Williams CM, Michalitsis J, Murphy AT, et al. Whole-body vibration results in short-term improvement in the gait of children with idiopathic toe walking. J Child Neurol 2016;31(9):1143-1149.

Toe Walking in Children. Do you know what you are dealing with ? Part 2

So you have now ruled out possible Autism-spectrum, possible CMT (Charcot-Marie Tooth Disease), CP (Cerebral Palsy), MD (Muscular Dystrophy) in your young toe walking individual.  Now you have been left with the aftermath foggy diagnosis of “Idiopathy Toe Walking”, that doesn’t leave you as a parent or clinician with much to work with or likely to be confident about. Let us try to help make things clearer and give you some other cognitive options to entertain. New research in recent years has brought new light onto the issue and we wanted to use today’s blog post as a platform to share it with you. 

In a previous week’s “Part 1” blog post & video (link) you can see in the gait on the video that nothing appears to be terribly abnormal in the foot structure (from what we can tell), the client is merely remaining in the plantarflexed posture and forefoot weight bearing.  This is highly ineffective gait and can be very fatiguing let alone to mention the sustained loading into the posterior compartment and plantarflexor mechanism (gastrosoleus-achilles) not to mention the sustained forefoot loading response on the foot bones and joints. Remember, the tibialis posterior and long toe flexors are close neighbors with capabilities of plantarflexion moments, so there are possible clinical manifestations there as well not to mention the obvious (especially to long-time Gait Guys readers) deficits that will be found in functional ankle dorsiflexion, ankle rocker and S.E.S. (skill, endurance, strength) of the anterior compartment mechanism (tibialis anterior, long toe extensors, peroneus tertius).  Even if this client were to go into normal heel strike and stance phases right now, they would have lots of work to do to restore the anterior-posterior compartment balance, the 3 foot rockers (heel, ankle and forefoot) abd posterior compartment length to avoid functional pathology not to mention the timely coordination of all these events. 

Idiopathic toe walking is suggested to be as prevalent as 12%. Toe walking is categorized when there is an absence, or at least a limitation, of heel strike during initial walking gait contact phase. We are not referring to, at all, forefoot running principles. Neuromotor maturation comes about via the suppression of the primitive reflexes/windows and appearance of the postural reflexes and responses. Delays or subtractions of these windows/reflexes may cause challenges in the normal development and maturation of the central and/or peripheral nervous systems.  With toe walking, the clinical window most studies suggest is to begin investigation after 3 years of age when the primitive motor patterns should have solidified and the gait and postural patterns have begun to layer on top of those primitive reflexes.  Remember though, the primitive patterns are not sequentially fixed, meaning that infants move in and out of these reflexes until they become skilled and permanent.  It is not until they are fixed that the postural patterns, which are volitional, can be gradually built. This should bring some deeper thoughts to your mind right now.  Is toe walking behavior a missed primitive window or a non-volitional postural window? These kids are not doing this by choice, anyone who has worked with these types of cases knows this very well, and we have seen our share. 

In the literature and clinics a plethora of things have been tried and discussed (ie. serial casting, botulinum toxin, surgical tendon lengthening, gait retraining, orthoses/orthotics, night splints, day splints and the like). Keep in mind that only one of the above is addressing a functional change via cognitive and higher brain center demand, “gait retraining”. The others are passive forced attempts.  But is gait training enough ? And how far back into primitive and postural gait pattern training do you have to go? Gait training certainly does something as eluded to by two research papers we posted on our Facebook page in previous weeks. See those references below.

“For both feet, contact time of the heel was increased after the training period, whereas contact time of the forefeet decrease. Also positive changes in the active range of joint motion of the ankle (dorsal extension) were observed in both feet. These positive effects were visible also in the follow–up assessment.” -Pelykh study

“Daily intensive gait training may influence the elastic properties of ankle joint muscles and facilitate toe lift and heel strike in children with CP. Intensive gait training may be beneficial in preventing contractures and maintain gait ability in children with CP.” - Willerslev-Olsen study

So what else could be going on here ? Is this neurodevelopmental ? Yes, for sure.  But where did things go awry ?  And how do we fix it ? Remember, the development of primitive and postural reflexes is supposed to occur proximal to distal (ie. from core to hand/foot).

In a recent study in the Journal of Child Neurology,  

“for the first time, motor and sensory challenges presenting in healthy children with an idopathic toe walking gait have been identified.These challenges imply an immaturity or mild impairment at the cerebellum or motor cortex level.”

As the article suggested, the research did not render direct cause(s) for the gait pattern, rather some very viable theories on the topic. They found that only the areas of balance, upper body coordination and bilateral coordination were areas found to be problematic in the toe walkers. These 3 components require the integration of the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems as a team. Diving deeper into how these 3 outputs are linked, there is a required “mix of occulomotor control and cues together with subtle and gross postural adjustments” (3). As Williams et al (3) suggested, “they are skills requiring the coordination of movements in which each side of the body moves simultaneously or in sequence”.  Kind of sounds like some topics on Arm Swing/Leg swing and also on the topic of phasic/antiphasic gait we have discussed over and over again here on TGG and in recent podcasts (82) doesn’t it ?  It was proposed that perhaps idiopathic toe walkers negotiate their sensory challenges by unconsciously engaging toe walking behavior to change or challenge these inputs.  Here were some of the proposed thoughts from the Williams study.

“The tactile receptors of the skin may be stimulated through pressure at the ball of the foot or lessened by a reduction of surface contact by raising the heel off the ground. Proprioceptive input may be changed at the knee, ankle and even toe joints by unconsciously repositioning of the foot posture.  The vestibular input may be increased by the vertical stimulation of the bouncy type gait that results from toe walking.”(3) Williams

It seems clear from the Williams study that these children demonstrate a number of sensory needs that motivate toe walking to alter (increase or decrease) or improve sensory input.  The study also suggests that the toe walking gait is an attempt to modify input on postural stimuli during gait to serve diminished postural and position awareness.

The findings of this study are important.  Our most recent blog posts and podcasts (Nov 2014) have discussed some of the components to build, control and coordinate gait on a higher neurologic level. The Williams article seems to support these discussions, that some pathologic gaits are initiated on a neurologic level as opposed to biomechanical at the foot and ankle level.  This sounds like the work offered by “the functional neurologist”, graduates of the Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies ! (carrickinstitute.com)

Have a great day gait brethren !

Shawn and Ivo, The Gait Guys

References:

1. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2014 Oct 9. [Epub ahead of print]

Treatment outcome of visual feedback training in an adult patient with habitual toe walking.

Pelykh O¹, Klein AM, Feist-Pagenstert I, Schlick C, Ilmberger J.

NeuroRehabilitation. 2014 Oct 15. [Epub ahead of print]

2. Gait training reduces ankle joint stiffness and facilitates heel strike in children with Cerebral Palsy.

Willerslev-Olsen M1, Lorentzen J1, Nielsen JB2.

3. Is idiopathic toe walking really idiopathic ? The motor skills and sensory processing abilities associated with idiopathic toe walking gait.  J Child Neurol 2014, 29:71 Williams, C. , Curtin, Wakefield and Nielsen