Your Child's Growing Feet

12 to 18 Months	The structure of the foot is primarily soft cartilage, usually not strong enough to support the body.
Learning to Stand	Cartilage rapidly develops into bone.
Two to Six Years Old	Early weight-bearing years where the legs and feet go through several stages of developement.
Two Years Old	The bowed legs and "toed-in" feet of infancy straighten out as the child begins to walk.
Three Years Old	A knock-kneed, toed-in stance may develope as a result of normal skeletal growth.
Six Years Old	The major structures of the foot are fully developed and resemble the adult foot.
Seven Years Old	The knock-kneed, toed-in appearance and the child's feet and legs usually straighten out by age six or seven.

Although the knock-kneed, toed in stance usually disappears by the age of seven, unfortunately, not all conditions disappear. A recent survey of 52 five-year-old children showed that 92.3% had knocked knees and 77.9% over pronated. While noticeable knocked knees usually disappear by age seven, over pronation does not.

Over Pronation
As you walk, your weight shifts as your feet naturally move forward and up and down; just as naturally, they also slightly "flare out" or "pronate" just before the heel makes contact with the ground. Over pronation refers to an excessive amount of pronation, or pronation occurring at the wrong time in the gait cycle. This can cause the foot bones to shift position, which results in dysfunction of the bones and joints above the pronated foot. Over time, this dysfunction can cause stress or pain in the knees, hips, pelvis, low back, or neck. The foot itself may not hurt at all, even though it can be the principal cause of stress/pain elsewhere in the body.