What is Congenital Talipes Equinovarus?
It is a significant deformity of one or both feet that is present at birth.
As its causes are unknown, it is described as idiopathic.
The foot turns inward and points downward.
Apart from this foot deformity, the child is physically and psychomotorly perfectly normal.
Why should clubfoot be treated?
It is important to diagnose clubfoot and, if possible, treat it before the age of three. Otherwise, an untreated child will walk on the outer edge of the foot and then on its upper side, changing the shape of the foot and leading to other deformities.
This is then considered a major mobility disability.
Over time, the child will experience pain while walking and bone deformities will become irreversible.
Why the Ponseti Method?
The Ponseti method is the least costly, the most anatomically conservative and one of the most effective methods in terms of results in recent years.
• The method succeeds in more than 90% of cases when instructions are followed from the beginning to the end of treatment.
• It is painless and non-invasive, leaving only a tiny scar when a tenotomy is required.
• It supports the child’s normal physical and motor development.
• It allows the child to wear ordinary shoes.
First step of the Ponseti Method: Manipulation and application of plaster
The child will keep each cast for a week. It will be changed weekly for approximately four to six weeks, depending on the severity of the clubfoot. At each session, the manipulations and the assessment will be renewed.
Second step of the Ponseti Method: Achilles tendon tenotomy
Tenotomy is necessary in 90% of cases. Immediately after this procedure, a final cast is applied for three weeks, the time needed for the tendon to heal in an elongated position.
Third step of the Ponseti Method: Abduction brace
If the child is already walking when treatment begins, he or she will have to wear the brace only at night until the age of five. If it is an infant or a child who is not yet walking, he or she will have to wear the brace for three months full time (day and night), then only at night until the age of five.
The Impact of Healing
Clubfoot disability has been almost eradicated in high-income countries thanks to effective treatment. Yet 90% of children born with clubfoot live in low-income countries, where access to appropriate treatment is limited or non-existent.
More than one million children currently live with a disability caused by untreated or poorly treated clubfoot, making it one of the leading causes of physical disability worldwide.
Every child born with clubfoot should have the right and opportunity to live a normal, happy and fulfilled childhood.
Once healed, each of these children can go to school, play, run, have fun and grow up like any other child of the same age.