Children Orthotics Melbourne: Tips How To Ease Their Anxiety?

Children are often faced with challenges in school and even with their siblings at home. This can amp up their anxiety and make them act differently or even recluse completely. This situation aggravates when your child is suffering from a medical condition. Especially when it doesn’t let them be as mobile as they’d like to be, this results in lowered confidence, and a child’s social and emotional development is affected as a consequence of the anxiety build up. If you leave it unchecked, it can lead to long-term problems as well.

It’s difficult to identify if your child is suffering due to some physical issues in their lower limbs. Some children develop differently than others. Given the physical development of each child may vary, it’s common for parents to treat specific symptoms as if they’re normal.

If your child is showing issues within their feet or lower limbs, it’s a good idea to visit a Childrens Orthotics Melbourne specialist if you’re in the local area. If your child is complaining of any of the following, you should consider orthotics:

• Frequent foot and heel pain
• Lack of curvature in the foot (flat feet)
• Ingrown nails
• Frequent knee pain
• Problems in walking frequently

 The Anxiety that Comes with Poor Feet Issues 

A child who has problems with their feet and posture is highly likely to develop anxiety and start to believe something isn’t “right” about themselves. This especially happens when the child goes to school and sees other children without the problem. In such cases, often, children tend to face bullying in school if their posture is different or the appearance of their feet isn’t normal when walking barefoot. 

To fix this, you can make use of custom made kids orthotics Melbourne that can help with these issues and can be a great asset for your child. 

Tips to Help Ease Their Anxiety about Wearing Orthotics

Here are a few crucial ways you can ease your child’s anxiety and help them wear orthotics comfortably.

Let the Teachers and School Authorities Know

If your child is in school, let their instructors and school administration know they’re using the support of orthotics. Keeping the staff informed will help reduce any stress or anxiety from running or PE classes. Moreover, wearing orthotics over time will help improve your child’s balance and reduce leg pain, which can help make them more confident long term and can also reduce their anxiety as well.   

Find Their Triggers

Stress is detrimental to one’s health, and it can be even worse for children. This is why you need to be aware of what causes stress in your child and help them deal with stress.

Your child might not think about their lack of limb functionality all the time. However, there might be things that remind them of their disability. For instance, attending a sibling’s football game or basketball match might make them anxious because they can’t play as well as their siblings or the other players due to their foot issues. When the child has some special needs or experiences pain, it’s essential to help work them through these triggers slowly at their own pace. However, you should be aware of the possible triggers so you can avoid discussing them around the child.   

Teach Them How to Manage it Without You

Anxiety can be crippling, especially when it’s a result of the consistent foot, leg, or back pain resulting from poor feet development. Its effects are widespread and can be different for each individual. And the only way to deal with it is to know how to help them through the anxiety. You can help them by asking them to set goals and make them reprioritize the things that matter to them. You may also try to help them to frequently talk about their problems and make a list of activities they may enjoy doing with you, which won’t increase their pain or discomfort. Some other things that can practically help your child’s movement include: 

• Encouraging them to stop an activity if their foot pain gets worse while they’re still getting used to wearing their orthotics. Over time the pain will subside.
• Allow your child to choose which shoes to add the orthotic inserts. It’s also ideal for getting new shoes that fit the custom inserts to help your child gain confidence in wearing them.
• Talk to your child about the inserts to help reassure them what they’re for and how they can help them.

Try What Suits Your Child Best!

Again it’s vital to be mindful of the fact that anxiety can manifest itself for different reasons. However, the above tips can be applied to children with special needs who may have certain feet conditions. This can help them in reducing anxiety. Does your child have anxiety about their feet? Try using the above tips to ease their anxieties and see how they can help you comfort your child.