I had an e-mail from a mother who was concerned about the possible incorrect diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy in her daughter. She said she had looked on the Internet and that her daughter's symptoms didn't seem to fit that diagnosis. She asked what I thought. The mother said her daughter had a funny walk and her legs were weak. In addition, her lower legs were quite thin. When I asked if she had a hard time buying her daughter shoes, the mother was surprised, but said, "Oh yes, we have a terrible time. She has a very high arch."
My answer to her was that it sounded as if the mother was describing a very typical case of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Many of these patients have high arches, great difficulty in buying shoes, thin calves (formerly called "stork legs"), mild progressive weakness and they lift up their feet to walk in what is called a " steppage gait". This is a hereditary disorder and most likely other family members have problems in buying shoes or some mild weakness. A pediatric neuromuscular specialist should be consulted and nerve conduction times need to be done. Often orthopedic surgeons are the first to recognize the disorder becasue of the foot problems.Later on, some weakness of the hands may develop. There are different types of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, which have somewhat different outcomes.
( Dr. Charcot was a French neurologist, who did some work with Freud and Dr. Marie was a student of Dr. Tooth in England.)
