Our son James has walked on tiptoes since he was just over a year old. We tried the weight on back method, the taping big toe method, sensory brushes, high-top shoes, and physical stretching exercises. While the tippy-toeing decreased slightly, we feel it stopped improving.
Looking for alternatives we found orthopedic high-top shoes that have been miraculous. Once strapped, the foot is forced to use the full plantar surface so his feet are mostly doing full contact. To our surprise it was well tolerated and he can have them on for many hours without much fuzz.
The brand we found is named “memo” and they are a Polish import brand. Most of their shoes are at $100 US dollars or above but in our view, they are worth every penny. We opted for a couple of pairs of the “Memo Michael Corrective Orthopedic High-Top AFO Leather Sandal” MSRP $116 and also the “Memo 3/4 Length Gray Arch Support Insoles $25 USD” These insoles are needed to maintain the foot arches the sandals are completely flat.
James is a big boy for his age of 28 months, he is already a Toddler 8.5 shoe and will soon grow to 9. We got him #9s and they work very well. These are very easy to put on and off and are excellent at correcting posture and tiptoe walking. We hope as other parents in the Amazon reviews say that the raised foot walking was corrected over time after switching to these shoes. We are already seeing a change in the way that James is able to walk better and more securely. They have tons of shoe models at their Memo Amazon Store Here which may be more to your liking. For the price they are wonderful considering a custom orthopedic shoe by a doctor would run in the $500 to $1000 mark.
We will try to update this post with the results of his walking improvement going forward and we thank you for reading. You can support this site by following our links for your purchase at no extra cost to you. Stay Safe and may your child walk flat!
Hi James! Thanks for sharing this helpful information. I am looking for a pair of shoes like this. Could you bring me an update?
We have changed to a Brace now, he has improved a lot in his flat walking but still a long time to go. He also was into serial casting at the children’s hospital but failed the second casting attempt. Braces seem to be working by forcing the foot down and getting the tightness down.