Orthopedic sitting positions
Question
My son, who is age 11, often sits on the floor cross legged. His physical therapists want to work on discouraging him from doing this as they believe it may cause genu valgus. He sits like this all the time and I am wondering about this condition and if it is related to CdLS.
Answer of our experts
Children (and adults, too) will sit in the most comfortable position when on the floor for long periods of time. Comfort is dictated by the anatomy of their lower extremities, especially hip range of motion and the lower extremity rotational profile. In the past there has been concern that sitting postures, especially "W sitting" caused or exacerbated intoeing. Now pediatric orthopaedic surgeons believe that sitting positions do not affect changes in anatomy, but just result from them. I do not think your son will develop any problems because of his sitting position. It is not possible to be absolutely 100% certain without seeing him, so you may wish to have him evaluated by a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon
TR/ TK 7-13-10
