Toe, heel and side of foot walking

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So, my parents say I walked exclusively on my toes until I was 4 or 5, and I remember doing so on a more off and on basis after that time. I know it's typical for children to toe walk up until 2 or 3, but is it after that point? I read somewhere if children toe walk after 18 months they need to be evaluated? Is that the case? I also remember as I got older, walking much of the time on my heels and the sides of my feet. Is that typical of individuals on the spectrum?

I'm now 20 and I still toe-walk ALL the time. I've done it since I was a child. From what I've read, it is.

I walk on my toes if I'm happy or confused. Normally I walk on the sides of my feet.

So, does walking on your heels and sides of your feet equate toe walking when it comes to the spectrum?

I still walk on the sides of my feet and on my toes often to this day. I also bounce on my toes a lot.

I suppose I walk on the pads of my feet when the floor feels too gross, but not normally. I do have an odd and bouncy kind of gait, though, and I guess it has something to do with me bouncing off of the pads and toes of my feet.

I walk on my toes whenever I am barefoot. I walk normally (I think) when I wear socks or shoes, just not barefoot.

I don't really remember toe walking, but I do think I walk more on the balls of my feet compared to the average person. Like that's just my natural balance point, I find it hard to balance off my heels or drive through my heels doing athletic things a lot of the time. I think because of the way I walk, I ended up with huge calf muscles, my first time stepping into a gym basically, I went up to a calf press machine and could max it out for 10+ reps, and later I tried and succeeded at maxing it out on each leg, including my weaker left one, for 10+ reps. I just thought it was weird seeing people with like 20lbs on it, but now I know it's just the way I walk.

Maybe it's this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 092304.htm

I don't know, another thing with me, is I always walk ahead of pretty much everyone else ever, and it takes about zero effort for me, but running I'm not all too fast (gotten faster in sprints since I started doing more squats/leg work.) So I wonder if based on that paper, if heel walking was adapted for more efficient walking, I never adapted to it for whatever reason, and yeah... The other thing it says, too, that the leg muscles all get huge from toe walking, and I've always had pretty abnormally huge legs. I also have a slight Morton's toe, or longer toe compared to my big toe.

This is sorta something that interests me a bit. It's kinda weird, as if that's true, I'm sorta "naturally" a huge squatter/deadlifter without basically much trying. I also wonder techniquewise, too, as you're always told to "drive through your heels" but I never "drive through my heels" when walking, so it feels unnatural, I don't really know. I think partially for me too, it's a balance issue, keeping your weight too far forward, until I skated, I had terrible posture, hunched over a decent amount. I walk a bit more on my heels now, too, from skating, as you do to a point have to skate off your heels. I'm wondering if it's more a postural/balance issue from being too far forward that causes this.

Sorry, I'm a bit obsessive about this.

Last edited by 1000Knives on 16 Jun 2012, 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I usually walk on my toes barefooted or in socks, because walking full-footed on the floor feels too intense. I will walk full-footed in shoes, because then my feet are in contact with a surface already anyway... but otherwise, toes.

My mother used to tell people about how much I would fight and cry if she put me in footie pajamas. I would have such fit that she had to cut the feet off.

My middle son toe walks as do I. Part of this for me is asperger's the other is the native American in me.

Please note I'm not diagnosed and don't know for sure if I have AS or not...

However I toe walked all the time, I also fell over A LOT. Because of this at about 6 I was taken to see a chiropadist who watched me walking and may have done other stuff I don't remember and diagnosed me with too short Achilles tendons and my parents were given exercises to stretch them (painful, but not as bad as it might sound).

So I was told in no uncertain terms I need to concentrate on walking on my heels. The stretching exercises seemed to helpes quite a bit although I would still toe walk until at least my early teens.

I got teased for how I walked anyway (part of my family has a notable genetic trait for a very bouncy walk which I inherited). So I was very self conscious of how I walked and through a lot of practice 'cured' myself of the toe walking.

Now if anything I over emphasise walking on my heel and also tend to wear down shoes very unevenly at the sides and back.

Makes me wonder did I really have short achilles tendons at all, could the chiropodist have been mistaken, I'm guessing she was on balance probably right, but autism wasn't very well understood in the 1970 so no-one would have considered it as a possble cause back then.

I toe walk when I have bare feet or socks on, or whenever I'm happy or excited. As the outside of my shoes wear down quicker that the rest of my shoe I assume I walk slightly on the sides of my feet?

I'm not sure about my childhood (for some reason I don't remember much of it) but for as long as I know I've had a tendency to walk on my toes and stand on the sides of my feet when I'm not wearing shoes - and sometimes even with shoes. Apparently it looks a little as if my foot joints were broken when I do that, but it never hurt so I never bothered to change anything.

I used to walk in a funny way, too, but at some point I looked at my tracks in the sand - I think I was about 4 or 5 - and noticed that I put my feet at an odd angle to each other compared to my parents' tracks. I made a conscious effort to remedy that and I walk normally today.

I never walked on my heels and the only time when I am walking on my toes is on a staircase.

I do, however, still often both stand and walk on the sides/outer edge of my feet, usually so when barefoot.

It is likely a sensory thing as it's a) very comfortable and b) feels - the best way I can put it - less distressing to stand and walk like this even when the ground I am walking on feels alright. Metaphorically: if planting your feet firmly on the ground was like background noise, walking on the outer edges is a way to reduce that. I think it might also be stimulating at the same time but I'm not sure on that right now.

This was part of what in my first year of life led the paediatrician and orthopaedic specialists to be concerned about if there was something wrong (they found nothing). It's pretty obvious to the people around me for some reason and I get comments about it looking funny or about that it must be uncomfortable every now and then even at age 24.

I've yet to meet a professional who looks for that type of walking when he/she discusses ASDs. Most are only interested in toe walking and don't seem to know what to do with someone who has another type of atypical walking that might be related to their ASD.

I don't toe-walk, it's so uncomfortable, but I think I have deformed my right foot because ever since I twisted my ankle 10 years ago I have been walking on it funny, sort of on it's left side, because of the fear of twisting the ankle again.

I'm not sure if I walked on my toes, but I do and have walked on the pads and toes.

Since I started ice skating I have noticed how much I tend to stand on the sides.

Walking like that is quite compared to those who walk on heels. In my late teens I worked for the forest service in the North Carolina mountains. I remember being able to walk within arms length of deer in the woods. Long before the others were near the deer heard them and moved on.

I do not recall ever walking heal first.
I have had to teach myself to run heal first. It didn't come naturally.