Sometimes babies are born with a minor orthopedic deformity in feet where the sole of the foot is turned inwards and the heel is drawn up. This is referred to as club foot and when babies grow up, they tend to walk on their ankles and bend on their sides while walking. Club foot is reported in one out of every 1000 live births and the cases are more commonly found in boys than in girls. The deformity can be diagnosed either at birth or at antenatal scan during pregnancy. It can however be successfully rectified without surgery if its treatment begins immediately after the birth as doctors can advantage of the suppleness and elasticity of tissues in the newborn and give it a correct shape.

MaxHealthcare runs a sub-speciality programme in correcting club feet by dedicated orthopedic doctors. The doctors ideally prescribe casts and plaster treatment within two weeks of birth. Ponseti method is the most widely accepted method to correct club feet. A plaster cast is put on the feet six to eight times to achieve a correct degree of manipulation. As a result, the displaced bones are gradually brought in a normal alignment. This process can take around two months of bone and ligament manipulation. Surgery can also be done to adjust the tendons, ligaments and joints in the foot and remove all the deformities at the same time. This is usually performed when the baby is 9 months old. However, the foot might tend to return to its club foot position post surgeries if proper casts and braces are not used to keep the foot in place until one year post surgery.

Once these procedure are done, the baby when grows up, can run and walk normally and wear normal shoes and lead a perfectly normal life!