Idiopathic toe walking-A follow-up survey of gait analysis assessment.

Background: Toe-walking is a normal variant in children up to 3 years of age but beyond this a diagnosis of idiopathic toe-walking (ITW) must be considered. ITW is an umbrella term that covers all cases of toe-walking without any diagnosed underlying medical condition and before assigning these diagnosis potential differential diagnoses such as cerebral palsy, peripheral neuropathy, spinal dysraphism and myopathy must be ruled out. Gait laboratory assessment (GLA) is thought to be useful in the evaluation of ITW, and kinematic, kinetic and electromyography features associated with ITW have been described. However, the longer term robustness of a diagnosis based on GLA has not been investigated. The primary aim of this study was to examine if a diagnosis of ITW based on GLA features persisted.

Methods: All patients referred to a national gait laboratory service over a ten year period with queried ITW were sent a postal survey to establish if a diagnosis of ITW which had been offered following GLA persisted over time. The gait and clinical parameters differentiating those reported as typical ITW and not-typical-ITW following GLA were examined in the survey respondents.

Results: Of 102 referrals to the laboratory with queried ITW, a response rate of 40.2% (n = 41) was achieved. Of the respondents, 78% (n = 32) were found to be typical of ITW following GLA and this diagnosis persisted in the entire group at an average of 7 years post GLA. The other nine subjects were reported as not typical of ITW following GLA and 44.4% (n = 4) received a subsequent differential diagnosis. The clinical examination and gait analysis features differentiating these groups were consistent with previous literature.

Conclusion: GLA appears to be a useful objective tool in the assessment of ITW and a diagnosis based on described features persists in the long-term.