Preventing Sports Injuries in Children Starts Young

I just read a great article online about preventing ACL injuries in young athletes, especially girls. It's right here (preventing sports injuries in children) and it brings up some very important points about the alarming increase in sports-related injuries in student athletes. There's no doubt that youth sports are becoming more competitive, more aggressive, and having a greater incidence of injury on young athletes. The article points out the important perspective of prevention in young athletes to help avoid some of the most common injuries. It discusses the new trend in orthopedics toward considering the body as a whole rather than an isolated joint when it comes to injury.

As the old song goes, "the knee joint's connected to the ankle joint," and on and on. If an athlete suffers a tendency toward knee injuries,orthopedists are looking more closely at the overall gait and starting with the foot. If the foot is not stable, then the whole leg is at risk for injury. Taking simple measures to align the foot and ankle can mean prevention of serious injuries to the ACL and other major joints. One of those steps is an arch support or orthotic. And, from a prevention perspective, the earlier you start this process, the better.

The article mentions the fact that even an athlete as young as nine years can begin doing basic strength training exercises using their own body as resistance. Building stronger supporting muscles, and getting the right support in shoes can have a significant impact on injury prevention. The earlier you begin with getting a child's foot balanced and stable, the more likely they will be able to avoid painful injuries later on. It seems really straightforward, and I encourage all parents with child athletes to take a closer look at how the foot is being supported. It may prevent your child from spending part of their youth sports career on the sidelines.

THINKING SMALL: Making strides in children’s footwear | Lower Extremity Review Magazine

This article is an excellent snapshot of where we are today with children's footwear and shoe fitting. The frustrating part is that after 100 years, we still don't have a definitive guide for parents and caregivers of the right way to size and buy children's shoes. Instead of being far ahead of a century's worth of hard, damaging shoes, it seems we haven't really made enough of a leap in shoe design, but are now starting to understand the implications. Based on the studies highlighted in this article, we are doing much more damage to children's feet by not understanding the best environment for growing feet, damage that in many cases may be permanent.

It's something most parents don't give much thought to. Many (including me at times)We handle purchasing a pair of shoes as casually as buying a sweater or pair of pants for their child. 'We're driven by color, style, function. Or, rather, our children drive us to focus on these things and we forget the bigger picture, our responsibility as parents. But sweaters don't cause hammertoes, and pants won't lead to medical problems down the road.

I think the entire parenting community needs to be made aware of how important proper foot development is. I understand this on some level, but not once has it ever been mentioned in my children's well-visits with the pediatrician. That's where it needs to start. It is up to the medical community to educate us so that the footwear industry will respond with adequately supporting shoes and do away with fashion trends that are permanently damaging children's feet.

What do you think?


THINKING SMALL: Making strides in children’s footwear | Lower Extremity Review Magazine

Winter Boot Blues

Socrates said, "When our feet hurt, we hurt all over." This from a man who probably never wore a supportive pair of shoes in his lifetime. However, he was onto something. Fast forward 2,4000 years and it does hold true that if our feet hurt, we are not in a good place. Never did this become more evident to me than this past weekend, when my seven-year-old son had major pain in his feet from tight ski boots.

The weekend began on a good note. We headed up to the mountains of Vermont to ski with the whole family. Two trips down the hill, and the good note was lost in the wailing moans of a pained kid. You see, we had checked to see that the ski boots he was going to wear for the season ng fit back in November, when we pulled them out of the deep recesses of the cellar. I forgot a very important truth about kids' feet though - they continue to grow - sometimes seemingly overnight!

So, there we were on the mountain, and he began to complain that his boots hurt. We tried loosening buckles, having him wiggle his foot a bit, and wondering if maybe a sock was scrunched up the wrong way, causing irritation. By the second trip down the hill, after he fell three times and was in tears, I realized it was more than a creased sock.

We got into the lodge, and I went straight to the rental area. He was sized for a new pair of boots, and they were a full size bigger than the ones he had been wearing. The look of ecstacy on his face when his feet slipped into those bigger, roomier boots, melted my heart. Poor kid. He knew they hurt, he was absolutely miserable, and it was an easy fix to get him back into a good place.

The rest of the day, he was a powerhouse on the slopes -and he didn't complain once about his feet. I learned a valuable lesson -- feet can and do grow in the middle of a season -- and I have to be sure to regularly check boots and skates, or cleats and sneakers, to be sure that they still fit. There's nothing worse than painful feet, and no child should have to live with it.

Have you ever had this happen to your child? What did you do? What did they say to let you know their feet hurt?

Cutest Kids' Feet Contest Coming Soon!

We've been busy at Arch Angels® headquarters. One thing we've had in the works for a while is finally coming alive. We wanted to share it with you even though it's not quite live yet.

Here at Arch Angels® we are so absolutely in love with kids’ feet, we want to find the cutest kids’ feet out there. And we want to share them with the world.

Sure, you’ve spent hours taking photos of your kids’ adorable faces, but what about those feet? Are they splashing in the puddles? Are they covered with mud? Do they have painted toenails and glitter? Take a minute, grab your digital camera, and capture your child’s feet doing what they do best – living life to the fullest!

The winning photo will receive $500 in cash plus a lifetime supply of Arch Angels® comfort insoles. That’s to make sure those feet keep doing the things they love, with the right amount of comfort and support along the way.

Stay tuned for the official launch - and in the meantime, start taking those cute pics!

We Want To Change the Way You Think About Kids' Feet

I've been thinking a lot about how we view kids' feet and all the commonly held views on kids' feet that, as new parents, we tend to absorb while we're learning the ropes of parenting. Things like, "let them walk barefoot as often as possible," and "don't worry if they're walking a little funny, they'll grow out of it." We just shrug and say "Okay, the experts are saying this so I guess it must be right."

Well, I've always had issue with the first comment - walking barefoot. That works great for my friends Dave and Tami in Hawaii, where the kids spend much of their day on the beach or outside in general. Up here in the Northeast, we tend to have frozen tundra from November to March, so barefoot outside is impossible, and inside it's still too cold for little toes on those hardwood floors!

Yes, there is something to be said when a child is first learning to walk about letting their feet touch the ground and learn how to work the muscles to provide the stability they need to move forward. However, once they've got it down, then it's more important to find them shoes that continue to enhance that muscle and bone development while protecting them from the elements.

As for the outgrowing comment, while most kids sometimes do walk funny for the first few years, they may "outgrow" the behavior, but sticking them in shoes that don't have adequate cushioning arch support or stabalizing heel support can very well drive them down the path that many of us adults are finding - back aches, knee pain, foot pain. Much of this can be traced back to our childhoods when we were wearing shoes that didn't have the right inner support and cushioning to let our bones grow and muscles develop correctly.

So, I disagree with the "experts" on this one - I've seen firsthand that putting Arch Angels in my children's shoes have made a difference today in their level of comfort and stamina, and I strongly believe that that difference will lead to fewer long-term problems with their feet, knees, backs and overall physical health.

What do you think? Do you follow the conventional wisdom about minimal support when they're in their formative years? What did your pediatrician say to you if you brought up the fact that Timmy seems to walk on the outsides of his feet? I'd love to hear your comments!