Who else was orthopedically corrected as a kid?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

This GQ thread has prompted me to querey my fellow dopers in search of other folks who wore corrective casts, etc, as a child.

I was apparently pigeon-toed on my right foot, beyond the timeframe that is considered normal (toddlers are often pigeon-toed when they first start walking). So I had to wear a corrective cast that went from my upper thigh all the way down my leg that rotated the toes in my right foot outward. I’m not sure how long I wore it, but it probably wasn’t longer than a few months.

I assure you that was the last time I was “correct” in any way. :wink:

So what’s your story?

#2

I was born with both my feet turned in and had to wear special shoes with a bar between them to straighten my feet. I’ve been told that learning to walk was a real trial b/c my feet were effectively shackled together. Oddly enough, my shutterbug parents took no pictures of Baby in Bondage.

I’m fine now. Well, my* feet* are.

#3

I had my right leg rotated outward and had to wear some sort of “thing” – a brace or special shoes – but obviously don’t remember what it was. So now both my feet point forward correctly, but my right knee kinda points to the left. I have a slightly “off” walk and tend to wear out the sole of my right shoe unevenly.

Interestingly, my younger daughter had a similar condition, which was corrected with a strap on her shoes that basically fastened her heels together. She is now an adult, is fine, and does not have the crooked knee thing that I have.

#4

As a wee cub I wore corrective shoes with a brace on both legs because I was flat footed. Somehow the combo of shoes and braces was supposed to help my feet develop some arch. Later (around the age of nine) I no longer wore the braces but wore the corrective shoes until I was twelve. My feet do have arches but I am really choosy about shoes. I use those support inserts to this day. If I don’t I can tell the difference in walking.

I have really ugly feet.

#5

I had flat feet, fallen arches, and tendonitis as a kid. I learned this after the 20 mile Boy Scout hike (for which I also wore brand-new unbroken hiking boots, but that was my own stupidity).
I had to wear a Thomas Heel and Scaphoid Pads for years. Later on I heard about the "Rubber Cooke’, which was a different beast entirely.

#6

I remember having to wear these really heavy shoes as a toddler, and sleeping in another pair as well. When I slept there was a piece of wood that the shoes were nailed to, which I suppose acted as a brace. I don’t know what they were for.

My grandmother has absolutely flat feet (if she steps on a piece of paper where her arch should be, you cannot remove the paper) and so my mother was always paranoid about me getting flat feet. She had me doing the marble game I wrote about in that other thread as early as I can remember.

My arches are now *too *high - only a few degrees away from clubfoot. :smack: Thanks, Mom! Finding shoes that don’t cut into the top of my feet is a real challenge - mules are right out.

WhyKid had spinal fusion with Harrington rods last summer because of an idiopathic (“we don’t know why”) congenital (“but he was born with it”) scoliosis (“my gawd! his spine looks like a spiral staircase!”) complete with an extra rib on the left side. He’s recovered just fine, and is now doing just about everything he ever did, with *increased *flexibility and range of motion.

#7

I had no arches or left/right feet, apparently. I have glimpses of a memory going to a speciality store ( that had a stuffed monkey on a swing) and getting special shoes that would give me left and right indentations. I now have torn muscles in my arches and have to wear inserts or birks to help.

I remember a kid at our school that had the special shoes with the bar between it. I always wondered what the heck was wrong. I always assumed it was his legs that needed straightening. How come we don’t see that method of pure humilitation anymore?

#8

I was born pigeon-toed and wore corrective shoes as an infant. They were off well before I tried to walk and definitely before I remember anything. Later, a doctor told me that I had flat feet. Either he lied or I eventually corrected it by consciously walking on the outside edges of my feet, because now I have high arches.

#9

Wore shoes at night that had a bar between them to point my feet in the right direction for a year or so, then also wore leg braces all day every day for two years - they went around my waist with a belt like dealie, then connected to my legs at the knees and at the shoes. It was awful. This was all around first grade. You know, when the other kids would NEVER EVER pick on someone who was different… :rolleyes:

#10

Was this some kind of medical fad in the 60’s or thereabouts? I didn’t have the bar thing, but I did have to wear weighted shoes until I was in second or third grade. I remeber being thrilled when I was able to buy a pair of “normal” shoes. I’ve never heard of it being a concern with any of the kids my children have been to school or daycare with.

#11

I’ve never noticed anything about the position of my knees (my left knee “pops” and generally makes more noise than my right, but I’ve always attributed that to the years I spent squating behind home plate as a catcher). I do, however, seem to be a lot harder on the shoes I wear on my right foot. I was just re-noticing that this morning when I was lacing up my New Balances. I always seem to wear a hole in the back of my right shoe with my heel. I bought these shoes about 6 months ago, and the right one has a big hole worn in the heel, while the left is completely intact. I also seem to wear down the outside edges of the soles of my shoes on both feet, with more pronounced wearing on the right foot.

So no other cast-wearers? I was born in 1974, so I’m assuming the cast was put on sometime in 1975.

#12

My right foot turned inward when I was born, so I wore a special shoe that had a strap connected to it and wound around the leg to a sort of belt at my waist. It was gradually tightened and pulled my foot into shape.

I don’t really remember it though, as it came off for good when I was three. There is one picture of me wearing it though, an Easter photo with me in a hat, holding a stuffed bunny. I have the vaguest memory(dream?) of being put to bed and having it taken off for the night, but I don’t know if it’s real or a “created” memory.

#13

Another ‘pigeon-toed’ person here. I wore special weighted shoes when I was a toddler. I vaguely remember it, I know about it more through pictures and from my parents talking about it.

#14

I have bunions on both feet (gee, thanks, Dad) and I have flat arches, which means I can’t wear heels for too long and have to slip inserts into my shoes to help me walk. Bugger. :frowning:

#15

I used to be so pigeon-toed that I would trip over my own feet when walking. My doctor thought I would grow out of it, but it only got worse as I got older. When I was 10 I was taken to a specialist who made a contraption for me that consisted of a thick padded belt. Connected to each side of this belt were two cables that ran down either side of my legs. There were velcro straps at the thigh and the calf to keep them against my legs. The cables were then bolted at the bottom into sneakers. When worn, the tension of the cables pulled my toes outwards. Walking was a little awkward, but they did help over time. I wore them for about a year and was then re-evaluated, and it was decided there had been enough of an improvement that I wouldn’t need it anymore.

Now at 25, I walk with my toes pointing straight ahead - it never did turn my feet out all the way, but enough so it was no longer a problem.

The only downside to this method was that if the sneakers, which were permanently attached, didn’t fit through a pair of pants, I would have to wear the contraption outside my clothes (sometimes I could conceal it underneath). This caused some pretty bad bullying from the other kids at school.

#16

Same here. All I remember about them was that the shoes were Buster Brown and very, very ugly and clunky.

Geez, did anyone NOT wear corrective shoes in the 60s-70s?

#17

Does being born with a dislocated hip count? The orthopedists did a quick surgery to cut the tendon in my groin, then popped my hip back into place and put me in a cast running from my waist to my feet. Being a baby at that time was not fun – they cut a little hatch in the ass to change my diaper. I feel sorry for my parents. :smiley:

My dad also put little wooden pegs in the stroller to hold me in place so I wouldn’t go skidding clean out of there, since I was basically held in a Y-shape all in one plane until my muscles and whatnot shortened enough to hold my hip in place.

There’s plenty of photographic evidence of me in this condition, cast and all. Fortunately it worked – today you can’t tell that I had a dislocated hip in the first place.

#18

OOO I had that, I think my mom still has a pair of the shoes that the bar screwed onto somewhere [my mom saves everything. I wouldnt be surprised if she had a little mummified birth cord and placenta stuck away somewhere=]

But I only had to wear them at night :confused:

#19

I was also born with a dislocated hip, thought it wasn’t detected right away. I was quite miserable until the problem was discovered. I was in a cast and then a brace. Or maybe vice versa? Obviously I don’t remember. Apparently, the cast/brace both looked horridly uncomfortable, but I was happy to not be in pain anymore.

#20

My sister had some sort of hip dysplasia and had a similar setup – cast, then brace, both with her legs splayed out. My mother says they just gave her a baby with a cast on and let HER figure out how to deal with diapering. My sister learned to crawl by swiveling her hips from side to side, dragging the cast (and later the brace) behind her. Her bronzed “first baby shoes” are significantly bigger than my pair.

I also had some kind of foot problem and wore corrective shoes, with a “cookie” in them and metal cleats on toe and heel. I couldn’t wear “regular” shoes until about the 6th grade. Yay me. (As if I didn’t have enough social problems. I was horrified when the orthodontist told me in high school that I’d have to wear headgear, but thankfully it was nighttime only.)