W sitting – What is that??!!!

There is a lot of very conflicting information on this condition on the internet. Many internet sites caution against this position and advise you to nudge the child into a more ‘normal‘ criss-cross leg position.

So what is the real deal? – Should children be allowed W sitting?

According to [simple_tooltip content=’Surgeons who specialize in bone and soft tissue disorders of children’]pediatric orthopedic[/simple_tooltip] surgeons, this is a normal variant.

These children’s thigh bone is turned in (femoral anteversion). As the child grows, this self-corrects without any intervention at all. For such children, sitting in the W position is actually more comfortable!

This position is inherently more stable than the regular cross legged sitting position, especially, when one is twisting one’s torso to reach out for toys or other objects scattered around the child and moving them around.

There has been a brouhaha created about sitting for too long in these position will result in hip dislocations or cause future orthopedic issues. No child will ever sit in any particular position, if that position is causing enough stress that it causes pain – they know how to protect themselves.

When should be concerned?

In addition to ‘W sitting’ if your child either:

• Walks with a limp
• Has a pigeon toed gait (walks with toes pointed inwards, almost cross)
• Has associated weakness in the lower limbs.

A  [simple_tooltip content=’Surgeons who specialize in bone and soft tissue disorders of children’]pediatric orthopedic[/simple_tooltip] surgeon should evaluate your child. There may be other sinister problems like hip dislocation that may be causing these problems.

The fear of ‘W sitting’ has primarily been raised because these conditions have been missed at the initial examination. When finally diagnosed, they have been wrongly attributed to be due to W sitting.

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