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"I had the good fortune to work in the same large,              multi-disciplinary facility for many years. During that time I saw the number of children diagnosed with “Idiopathic Toe Walking” increase, but the effectiveness of our interventions as a medical community remained poor.

Most interventions (therapy, serial casting, orthoses, pharmaceuticals & surgery) had only short term effectiveness at best, & the children often experienced a recurrence of the problem, eventual pain &/or dysfunction, or, sadly, greater disability post-intervention.

I found it common for parents, therapists & physicians to feel ill-equipped when a child was a “toe-walker,” which was frustrating for all involved. This situation was unacceptable to me. With the invaluable collaboration of friends & peers, we developed a systematic approach, from a clinician’s perspective, to the assessment and treatment of pediatric toe walking. I have since improved the approach multiple times & it is still successfully used by therapists in a variety of environments & countries...18 years later! 

We considered the work of master clinicians in our field & combined it with our own procedures. The resultant Assessment Tool helps direct the clinician to potential etiologies of the gait pattern, so that appropriate intervention strategies can then be identified in order to develop an effective treatment plan.”

-Liesa