It was (believe it or not) a relief for me to get this diagnosis from the orthopedist today regarding Cate's funny walk. For those of you haven't seen it, it really is something else! She walks slightly pigeon-toed, sometimes on her toes and, as she does it, she is ... well ... all over the place! I had her evaluated by a physical therapist, who led me to think that maybe there was something structurally off about her hips. So, we were preparing to start physical therapy to correct it, when her doctor referred me to this wonderful orthopedist.
We met with Dr. Madigan this morning and he clearly diagnosed Cate with a mild case of femoral torsion syndrome, which basically boils down to four things: (1) she is "loosey goosey" - you would not believe how far he could bend all of her joints without her feeling a thing!! (2) she has a much greater degree of inward rotation than she does outward (hence her "W" sit) I take it this will kind of self-correct over time to where it is not noticeable. (3) she is flat-footed (4) she is a super clutz. According to the Dr., braces, PT, and surgery do not have any effect on this. All we need to do is get her in ballet to help with her poise and grace (she has a serious deficit in both areas right now!) & something like soccer to help with her control over her lower body. Check and check!!!! I can't wait to sign her up for ballet and soccer as soon as she turns 3! He also explicitly said that there must be no ugly orthopedic shoes for Princess Cate, "Pretty girls wear pretty shoes" (this is the part where he really won Cate over :)
Other than that, he just reminded me not to consider this a problem or to consider Cate abnormal (in fact, he advised against physical therapy on the basis that it may send her that message). He said she is within the normal range of motion. Hence, this is just one more of those quirky things about Cate. It seems the list of those things keeps getting longer by the day (Have I told you she will only eat peanut butter and jelly with a fork??). But I wouldn't have it any other way!
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