Children’s feet: marvels of anatomy
Children’s feet are very sensitive and need special encouragement and support. So that you don’t make any mistakes, you should first understand the anatomy and development of small children’s feet. To help you, we want to give you an overview here.
Why do children’s feet need support?
Our feet have to do an unbelievable amount over the course of our lives. They will circumnavigate the world a total of three to four times, and that while they have to carry our weight almost alone. So it is not surprising that even children’s feet have to perform at a high level. When hopping, jumping and romping around, they lift a multiple of their body weight. Therefore, children’s feet also need the appropriate encouragement and support, for example through foot exercises , so that they can carry your child all their life and no problems arise later.
Children’s feet – marvels of anatomy
First, you should take a look at the anatomy and development of your child’s feet. This is the only way you can take the right measures that are necessary for healthy development. The baby’s foot alone consists of 28 bones, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and numerous joints and tendons that ensure the mobility of the foot. Incidentally, children’s feet grow much faster than other body parts such as arms or legs, as Dr. Becker, orthopedics professor at the University of Tübingen, explained in an interview. A child’s feet actually grow up to two centimeters per year, which corresponds to about three shoe sizes .
Children’s feet – a giant leap from crawling to walking
The time when your baby changes from being a quadruped to a biped, i.e. starting to walk, is particularly fascinating. This phase is very tiring. Because before your child can walk properly, the support and movement organs must first develop. For this reason, at the end of the first year or at the beginning of the second year of life, your child’s legs, spine, pelvis and shoulder girdle, but especially his feet, are put under a lot of stress. The whole body changes in order to be able to stand and walk upright. That’s pretty hard work.
Girls’ children’s feet are always one step ahead
When growing, the feet are always one step ahead of other body parts such as hands or arms. By the time a girl is about two years old, her feet are half the length they will be in adulthood. In boys, this is not the case until the age of two and a half. Small children’s feet can lengthen by up to 20 millimeters a year, although this is a little slower in boys than in girls. Even in infancy, around the age of four, children’s feet no longer have anything in common with babies’ feet. Because the longitudinal and transverse arches have developed and the ball of the big toe has clearly separated from the ball of the outside, the foot now resembles that of an adult.
Active children’s feet are stable children’s feet
A rule of thumb says that the more actively children’s feet are used, the more stable they become. Barefoot walking is particularly good for your child, but this is sometimes not possible in our colder latitudes. It is therefore all the more important not to constrict your child’s feet even further, for example with the wrong shoes.