Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"When a child plays, they not only strengthen their muscles. They are building the movement that will accompany them throughout their life."
"Doctor, do they have flat feet?"
It is one of the most common questions I hear when parents come to consultation with their child.
The child walks in with absolute normality.
Runs.
Jumps.
Bends down.
Gets up.
Plays with any object they find.
Meanwhile, the parents observe something else.
The shape of the foot.
—We are concerned that they have a very low arch.
I always try to reassure them before exploring.
Because the foot of a child cannot be interpreted with the same criteria as that of an adult.
We are not observing a finished structure.
We are observing an organism in the process of construction.
Growing also means learning to move.
When we think about child development, we often imagine bones that increase in size.
Muscles that gain strength.
Legs that lengthen.
But the most important change occurs elsewhere.
In the nervous system.
Every fall.
Every jump.
Every run.
Every disbalance.
Every different surface.
All of this provides information that the brain uses to learn.
Movement does not appear when development ends.
Development occurs because the child moves.
Play is an extraordinary training.
Adults tend to move to achieve a goal.
Getting to work.
Playing sports.
Climbing some stairs.
A child moves for a completely different reason.
Because exploring is their way of learning.
Runs without a destination.
Jumps without need.
Bends down to pick up a stone.
Climbs a wall.
Walks on a curb.
Goes back down.
And repeats the process over and over.
From the outside it looks like a game.
From a biomechanical perspective, it is an extraordinarily sophisticated training.
Each movement forces the brain to solve small problems.
And each solved problem improves the next response.
The foot changes as the child changes.
During the first years of life, the foot undergoes a continuous transformation.
The tissues mature.
The proportions change.
Coordination improves.
The arch of the foot appears progressively as a result of growth, neuromuscular maturation, and mechanical load, not as an event that happens overnight.
That is why it is so important to observe function before form.
A foot that appears flat can function perfectly.
And a foot with a well-defined arch can present significant difficulties.
Biomechanics always reminds us of the same lesson.
Form never tells the whole story.
The best stimulus often seems like a game.
There is a common characteristic in almost all children.
They learn without realizing it.
They do not perform balance exercises because someone explained to them the importance of postural control.
They simply play.
They do not strengthen the foot because they want to improve stability.
They run after a ball.
They chase a friend.
They invent impossible courses.
Nature found a very smart way to teach movement a long time ago.
It called it game.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
When we talk about children's footwear, we often focus on protection.
And, of course, protecting the foot when the environment requires it is important.
But development needs something more.
It needs the foot to be able to move.
That the toes have space.
That the joints participate.
That the nervous system continues to receive information from the ground.
That’s why children's footwear should interfere as little as possible with a foot that is still learning.
Not because barefoot is an obligation.
But because the development needs opportunities to experience movement.
Always respecting the context, the age, the environment, and the needs of each child.
What I see every day in consultation
Many times parents come worried about the shape of the foot.
After exploring the child, we end up talking about something else.
About how much he plays.
About how much he runs.
About how much time he spends sitting.
About the surfaces he moves on.
Because, often, the most important answers are not only in the foot.
They are in the life that foot leads every day.
An organism that explores, plays, and moves usually finds many opportunities to develop.
And that is great news.
What you can do starting today
If you have a child, a grandchild, or a child nearby, watch him play for a few minutes.
Don't just look at his feet.
Pay attention to how he moves.
How he improvises.
How he solves small imbalances.
How he changes direction without thinking.
You will see something fascinating.
He is not training.
He is learning.
And he is probably doing it much better than we imagine.
🔬 In a sentence
The development of the child's foot depends less on its initial shape and much more on the opportunities it has to move, explore, and adapt.
The most important idea
The foot of a child is not a small version of an adult's foot.
It is a structure in constant transformation.
Its development depends on the interaction between growth, the movement, experience, and the learning of the nervous system.
That’s why, before we worry solely about the shape of the arch or the appearance of the foot, it is worth asking ourselves if that child has sufficient opportunities to run, jump, explore, and discover the world with their body.
Because development does not happen while sitting.
It happens while playing.
And each play leaves a mark that will accompany movement for many years.
A question to reflect on
Think of your childhood.
Do you remember the shoes you wore… or do you remember the places where you ran, climbed, jumped, and played?
Perhaps the true architect of your feet was not the footwear.
Perhaps it was the movement.
In the next article…
When we talk about the children's foot, an idea frequently appears.
"My child has flat feet."
But what does it really mean to have a flat foot during childhood?
Is it always a problem?
Should it be corrected?
Or, in many cases, is it part of normal development?
In the next chapter we will discover why the arch does not appear because a certain age is reached, but because the organism matures, moves, and learns to use its feet..
And we will see that, in pediatrics, patience is often a tool as important as any treatment.