Why Do I Walk Like a Duck

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To Request an appointment with Dr. Schneider: http://referdrschneider.com • I call it outtoeing. Some refer to it as out toe gait. Many simply call them Duck Feet. No matter what it's called, you may have it or know someone who does. It's very common. My name is Dr. Andrew Schneider and I'm a podiatrist in Houston, TX. There are times when your feet pointing outwards is structural. It's the way the bones have twisted as you grew. In many cases, it's a sign of your feet compensating for other issues. In these cases, there are certainly things that can be done to straighten them out, And even better, there is no surgery involved. • What are duck feet and how do you know if you have it? The term duck foot refers to a postural deviation where one's feet are pointed outwards. In contrast, pigeon toe is when the feed point inward. Don't know if you have it.? Take off your shoes. March in place for five seconds and then stop. If your toes are pointing outwards, then you have an outtoe gait. • Okay... duck feet. • Before I discuss the treatable causes of an outtoe gait, let's talk about the reasons why you may have developed this habit. Actually, it's not a habit. There's nothing you did wrong to walk this way. One cause is your hip being in an external position. Your hip can be in an external position for a couple of reasons. One is that it hasn't fully twisted during development. This will lead to your needs being in an external position and will affect you all the way down to your feet. • The other reason is tight hip flexors. This can be because of the position that you sat in when you were growing up. For instance, sitting with your feet behind you with your feet pointing out can cause your hip flexors to tighten. Hip flexors also respond to the position you're in when you're walking. If you have flat feet, you'll compensate with the hip flexors tightening. You can stretch your hips to help alleviate their tightness. Also, yoga is great for this as well. Just be mindful of the position your feet are in so you can get the full impact of the poses. • Your knee can also be in an external position. This is usually due to external tibial torsion. This occurs when the tibia hasn't fully twisted. When you've grown, this will cause the feet to be in an external position. Unfortunately, there are no good stretches for this. There are are ways to compensate for it. However, this usually involves custom orthotics. • One reason is a lack of ankle motion, specifically the foot moving towards the leg. This motion is called Dorsiflexion and this syndrome is known as equinus. When you have limited ankle dorsiflexion, it can force the foot to externally rotate to compensate for the lack of mobility. It's tough to test for equinus yourself. It's really a two person job. It also gets it pretty technical. You're best off visiting your podiatrist. • If you're concerned that this is an issue. You can stretch your Achilles tendon to help with equinus. A common wall stretch is a good one. You know how to do it! • The most common cause that makes you walk like a duck is when your feet overpronate. All of the reasons I've mentioned earlier can cause overpronation as compensation for those issues. Of course, you may simply overpronate and feel like you've been doomed with flat feet. When you overpronate, your feet still have to get you to where you're going because your feet don't let you take a dynamic step forward. They're forced to cheat. They rotate outwards and you roll off the side of your great toe joint. This is a very inefficient way to walk or run. • The solution for flat feet from over pronation is using a custom foot orthotic. An orthotic is a specialized shoe insert made from a mold of your foot. The goal of an orthotic is to to provide the compensation that your feet need. This will stop your feet from having to compensate themselves, thus straightening them out. When I put a child in custom orthotics, you can see the difference in minutes. Adults they take a little longer since they've been compensating for a much longer time. But you will see results. The custom orthotics will help you stand and walk longer, run faster, and jump higher. • #duckfeet #outtoe #walklikeaduck • 00:00 Introduction • 01:09 What does it mean to have Duck Feet? • 01:50 Hips causing an outtoe gait • 02:56 Knees causing duck feet • 03:58 Lack of ankle motion causing outtoeing • 05:10 Overpronation causing duck feet • 05:48 Using a custom orthotic to straighten out your feet • 06:36 How to connect with Houston podiatrist Dr. Andrew Schneider

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