When my oldest was about 5, we took her to an orthopaedic surgeon for a consult. No, she didn’t need a knee replacement or anything serious, but we did need some advice. You see, she walked on her tip toes, all the time. No matter what we did, she wouldn’t stop walking on her tip toes. We took her to the orthopaedic surgeon to make sure she didn’t need surgery (she didn’t, thankfully) and to find out what we could do. His solution was to create small plastic braces that could be worn inside her shoes and under her socks. They helped her to keep her feet flat when she walked, and they stretched out those muscles in her calfs, which were tight from not being used.

An orthopaedic surgeon like the guy we saw, or Dr. Allen Gustafson can help patients old or young. We were happy to avoid surgery with my daughter, but we would have done it if an expert board-certified doctor would have recommended it as the only solution.