Open AccessIs idiopathic toe walking a symptom of sensory processing dysfunction?
Author(s) -
Williams Cylie,
Tinley Paul,
Curtin Michael
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of foot and ankle research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.763
H-Index - 39
ISSN - 1757-1146
DOI - 10.1186/1757-1146-4-s1-p59
Subject(s) - medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , rehabilitation , sensory system , physical therapy , neuroscience , biology
Background It is understood that toe walking involves the absence or limitation of heel strike in the contact phase of the gait cycle. When there is no medical cause of the gait pattern, a diagnosis of idiopathic toe walking (ITW) is made. Although there has been limited research into the pathophysiology of ITW, there has been an increasing number of references proposing that this gait pattern may be linked to sensory processing dysfunction (SPD). The purpose of this study was to investigate and profile 30 children with an ITW gait compared to 30 peers with a typical gait, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Methods Participants were assessed using the: (i) Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2), (ii) The Sensory Profile, (iii) Sensory Integration and Praxis test (SIPT), (iv) Vibration Perception Threshold (VPT) and (v) interview with parents about social factors of toe walking.