Objective: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the causes of intoeing gait and to investigate the association between femoral anteversion and tibial torsion.
Methods: The subjects were 23 children with intoeing gait. The association between increased femoral anteversion and external torsion of the tibia was investigated by computed tomography and 3-dimensional computed tomography. The tibial torsion angle was measured by computed tomography. Femoral anteversion angle was measured by computed tomography and 3-dimensional computed tomography.
Results: The intoeing gait was caused by increased femoral anteversion in 67.4% of the cases, by internal tibial torsion in 21.7% and by other factors in 10.9%. There was a clear correlation between the degree of femoral anteversion and the degree of external torsion of the tibia.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that most common cause of intoeing gait is increased femoral anteversion and that in cases of increased femoral anteversion, compensatory external torsion of the tibia develops during growth.
