If your child has been diagnosed with clubfoot, it's natural to feel concerned. However, it's important to know that this common birth defect, affecting around 1 in 800 children in India, is highly correctable with the right care.
Clubfoot, medically known as CTEV, is a complex foot deformity. If left untreated, it can lead to lifelong disability, social challenges, and a significant financial burden on families. Fortunately, a revolutionary approach has changed everything.
The Gold Standard: A Surgeon's Perspective on the Ponseti Method
As a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in India, I manage numerous cases of clubfoot each year. For the past two decades, the global gold standard for treatment has been the Ponseti method. This gentle, non-operative technique has transformed pediatric orthopedic care with its low cost and high impact.
How Does the Ponseti Method Work?
The method leverages the natural flexibility of an infant's bones and ligaments. Instead of extensive surgery, it involves a series of steps:
-
Gentle Manipulation and Casting: Each week, the foot is gently manipulated into a more correct position and held in place with a long-leg cast. This process is typically repeated for 5 to 8 weeks.
-
A Minor Corrective Procedure: To fully correct the heel's position, a small outpatient procedure called a percutaneous Achilles tenotomy is performed. This is a quick and essential step to ensure proper flexibility.
-
Maintaining the Correction: After casting, the child wears a special foot abduction brace for a prescribed period to prevent the deformity from recurring.
High Success, Low Cost: A Perfect Fit for India
The advantages of the Ponseti method are particularly impactful in a resource-constrained environment like India's.
-
Exceptional Success Rate: It achieves successful correction in over 90% of cases.
-
Cost-Effective: It is significantly cheaper than traditional surgery, avoiding expensive hospitalizations and long recovery periods.
-
Avoids Major Surgery: It circumvents the need for extensive corrective surgeries, which often resulted in stiff, painful feet and long-term complications.
So effective is this technique that we now successfully treat older children with neglected or relapsed clubfoot, offering hope where there was once very little.
Beyond Medicine: Restoring Dignity and Opportunity
From a public health perspective, early clubfoot management prevents permanent disability. This allows a child not only to attend school and participate in social life but also to grow into a productive member of the workforce. For many families, particularly from rural or poorer communities, this can make the difference between a life of dependency and one of self-sufficiency.
In my own practice, I have treated children from below the poverty line who, through this method, regained mobility and dignity, walking confidently into schools and a brighter future. It is no exaggeration to say the Ponseti method has transformed our field, allowing us to truly embrace and heal children with clubfoot.
Source:- Click Here
