Curly toes are common in children and often run in families. They’re usually present from birth and become more noticeable once a child starts walking, most often in the third, fourth or fifth toes. We are experts in children’s podiatry and will carefully assess your child’s feet, monitor growth, provide guidance on suitable footwear, and explain treatment options when needed. If symptoms persist, we’ll work with you to plan the next steps.
Benefits of Our Curly Toes Care
To help your child stay comfortable and active, our curly toes treatment comes with these key benefits:
- Family-friendly assessment with clear explanation and plan.
- Monitoring through growth, so you know when to act.
- Practical footwear advice and fit tips to reduce rubbing and pressure.
- Skin and nail care to prevent blisters and soreness.
- Referral pathway if surgery is indicated after age five.
- Local clinics with online booking and phone support.
HYPERLINK “https://www.highettpodiatry.com.au/contact-us-highett-podiatry/?utm_source=chatgpt.com”
What You Need to Know About Curly Toes
Here’s a quick guide on who needs to be reviewed, what signs to check for, and how we confirm the diagnosis.
Who benefits most?
If you’re unsure whether your child needs a review, begin by considering who usually benefits and when monitoring is enough. Infants and young children with tucked-under toes who develop nail changes, difficulty with shoes, rubbing, blisters, or pain during activity should be reviewed. However, many children show no symptoms, and in those cases, simple monitoring is all that’s required.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Noticing changes? These are the signs to watch for and how we confirm curly toes in the clinic.
Typical signs include toenail flattening/thickening, trouble fitting some shoes, pressure sores or discomfort. Diagnosis is made clinically after a podiatry examination; we’ll also provide footwear assessments and advice, as well as gait analysis (a study of walking patterns).
Curly toes treatment
Once you understand the situation, here’s the step-by-step care pathway, from simple shoe changes to when surgery may be considered.
Most cases are a variant of normal and improve as the child grows, particularly in the first five years. Roomy, well-fitted shoes help reduce pressure. Taping may seem helpful in the short term, but it doesn’t change alignment once stopped. If problematic toes persist beyond the age of five, a simple flexor tendon release may be considered by a surgeon.
How it works
We start with a children’s podiatry check, give footwear advice, and set a simple watch-and-wait plan with review dates. If symptoms don’t settle, we’ll try conservative care and, if needed, arrange a surgical opinion.
Many cases improve on their own as the feet grow, especially in the first five years, so choose shoes with plenty of room in the toes. Taping usually doesn’t help once you stop it, so we focus on monitoring and easing symptoms.
Clinic preference
Appointments are arranged by calling our reception team directly, as home visits are not available through online booking. We provide visits within a 15km radius of our Highett and Mentone clinics. A small travel fee applies if the visit is more than 5km from the clinic.