Symptomatic pes planus in children: a synthesis of allied health professional practices

Stewart C. Morrison, Madeleine Tait, Elaine Bong, Kyra Kane, Chris Nester

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Background: This study sought to explore professional perspectives on the assessment and management of symptomatic pes planus in children. Methods: Data was collected from three professional groups (podiatrists, physiotherapists, and orthotists) with experience of managing foot problems in children. The survey was undertaken in the United Kingdom via a self-administered, online survey. Data was captured over a four-month period in 2018. Results: Fifty-five health professionals completed the survey and the results highlighted that assessment techniques varied between professions, with standing tip-toe and joint range of motion being the most common. Treatment options for children were diverse and professionals were adopting different strategies as their first line intervention. All professions used orthoses. Conclusions: There were inconsistencies in how the health professionals assessed children presenting with foot symptoms, variation in how the condition was managed and differences in outcome measurement. These findings might be explained by the lack of robust evidence and suggests that more effort is needed to harmonise assessment and treatment approaches between professions. Addressing discrepancies in practice could help prioritise professional roles in this area, and better support the management of children with foot pain.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number5
    JournalJournal of Foot and Ankle Research
    Volume13
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 23 Jan 2020

    Bibliographical note

    © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
    reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
    the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
    (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

    Keywords

    • paediatric
    • Orthoses
    • orthotist
    • physiotherapist
    • podiatrist
    • feet
    • Paediatric
    • Physiotherapist
    • Podiatrist
    • Feet
    • Orthotist

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