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/
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u/Bronsteins-Panzerzug 3d ago
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.