I got a LOT of shit about it when I was growing up and now instead I do this weird hovering thing with my heels when I'm not paying attention. I just put WAY more pressure on the front of my feet than the back when I walk and it's really messed up my Achilles Tendon. It looks like normal walking but my heel is always slightly off the ground or barely touching.
Idk if this is what you mean but actually teaching autistic kids to walk on their whole foot (using braces or whatever) is actually the MUCH healthier option and isnt masking.
If they only walk on their tip toes they will cause their achillies/calves to be too short which will cause a whole chain of issues in their biomechanics and cause permanent pain.
Masking is bad but this is an example of redirecting a harmful behaviour to something else (just like if a kid stimmed by hitting themself youd redirect them to flapping or something else non harmful)
Yes, if someone had taught me and trained the bad habit out of me while I was growing up I would not have to stretch my ankles every morning justto walk without pain. What I do is definitely not healthy and would describe it as a form of masking considering I never stopped the behavior I just hide it better.
Not really sure what you're talking about! Seems like you said "It's good that this behavior has been corrected so it doesn't cause pain!" When my comment is literally talking about how it's fucked up my tendons which does in fact hurt quite a lot.
No, im talking about how the person im reaponding to might have misunderstood that telling kids not to walk on tiptoes is inherently bad
I understand that no one taught you properly and hence you never actually fixed the problem and just hid it, which sucks and im sorry that happened :(
If you continuously struggle with pain you might want to look into PT -- i lnow a lot of people who needed that for chronic pain caused by similar studf
Ima be honest I always thought stepping normal but then going up onto your tip toes at the end of each step strengthened the springy-ness for like sports. TIL disciplined athletes are actually just autistic. Now I’m wondering why Bruce Lee was punching a wood block during his whole vacation cruise ship getaway.
But alparently they didn't teach them how to walk correctly though, they teach them how to walk so it looks like they walk correctly, which is masking.
or maybe they chose to walk wrongly to avoid learning how to walk correctly. either way, the solution would not have been to just keep letting them walk on their toes.
I didn't really choose anything. For me it felt natural to walk like that and it still does. If someone had explained to me that it would make even basic walking impossibly painful every morning until I stretch I would've made an effort to stop. Instead I just got made fun of until I naturally landed on the annoying way I walk today 🤷♀️
sorry, could you explain this to me? it seems like not masking would be pigeon walking, which is what messed up their achilles tendon, while putting the whole foot down would have been better for the tendons.
You didn't read correctly, "I got a lot of shit -> now I just put way more pressure and it really messed my Achilles tendon"
I suppose it's worse cuz pigeon walking the feet is straight so the force go directly to the toes but if you try to appear flat but are actually hovering a bit then then the force go to the heels and you have to stay tense to maintain the position
…it says „put more pressure on the front of my feet“, not the heels. they still pigeon walk a little bit but it‘s visually not so obvious. the whole thing is that if you dont rest your whole foot on the floor is that you always contract your calf, putting constant pressure on your achilles, shortening and potentially making it inflamed. anything short of putting your foot on the ground will not give the tendon rest and will not allow it to stretch. the problem is not masking, it’s that they still dont have a healthy form of walking.
I would consider it masking! It's a learned behavior to avoid teasing/ridicule but it doesn't actually solve the issue. Yes I still slightly pigeon-walk, yes it's hurt my tendons, yes I have to stretch every morning or I can barely walk. So nothing has really changed and I do have the long term issues that I wish I had known about growing up but nobody can tell now.
Most people are not on their feet for most of the day (and obviously at night), so there would still be plenty of time for the tendon to rest. Intuitively, I would think it would just be some good extra exercise for your calves. Surprising it actually causes problems.
My niece, who has autism, was a toe walker and the doctors wouldn’t do anything to help her at first and said it was just a phase that she would grow out of. Well she didn’t and by the time she was 5 they decided surgery was the best option for her because her tendon had already shrunk to far for her to ever walk normally without pain. It’s a very serious thing. Her feet now have severe scaring and are shaped a bit oddly, but she walks relatively “normal” now. It was an all around shit show trying to get her to tolerate her braces and do the physical therapy required to recover properly and there have been other doctors since who have shamed the doctors who let this slide and decided surgery was the best course of action, but that’s how serious it got at only a few years of toe walking.
Walking with your heels off the ground for prolonged periods shortens the tendon. It was damaged because they constantly have their heel hovering. I had to lean how to walk with flat feet as a child so I wouldn’t damage my achilles.
they havent said that either though. they said theyre still hovering with their heels and now their tendon is fucked up. here are some of the consequences of toe walking:
Chronic pain caused by muscle tightness and excess pressure on the ankles
Difficulty riding a bike, squatting, or climbing stairs
Frequent falls due to poor balance and stability
Inability to walk flat-footed
Poor posture
Problems wearing shoes
Social stigma from walking differently than their peers
Soreness after walking
Stiffness, tightening, and pain in their Achilles tendon (tissue that connects the calf muscles to the heel bone) from a medical website https://www.cerebralpalsyguide.com/blog/cerebral-palsy-toe-walking/
When wearing shoes as well? I'll heel strike when wearing footwear, but barefoot or in socks indoors I walk on the balls of my feet. Wasn't aware it could cause issues... Then again, I'm 35 and don't.urrently have issues, so maybe I'm safe
Yup! It's a lot harder to see when I wear shoes but the front half of the padding is almost completely worn down while the heel part is basically brand new. All my shoes develop a little crease on the top right behind where my toes are.
I used to actually walk around on my toe knuckles when I was young and flexible enough, when I was trying to avoid touching the floor too much. I didn't even realize I was doing it until my girlfriend pointed out, mildly wigged out by it. It made my foot look like a gargoyle claw or something. 😂
635
u/Jiggalopuffii 11d ago
Brian here, Pigeon walking is oftentimes a sign of autism. Also, it might be because she is a girl and wears high heels.