Club Foot
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
- Expecting a baby diagnosed with club foot
- Club foot appearing at 8 months?
- My sister just had a baby with a club foot
Expecting a baby diagnosed with club foot
August 2008
I am expecting a baby soon who has been diagnosed with a club foot. Any advice on best treatment, doctors, impact on other children, books or journal articles, advice, etc.? Thanks. Berkeley mom trying to stay calm
My husband was born with a club foot. We know very little about his treatment, except that he was in casts as an infant, because he was adopted after a lot of his treatment had happened. I am sure treatment has improved, anyway, since he is now 44. His ankle is still stiff, but it hasn't held him back much. He has been an athlete all his life and usually does 4 or 5 triathlons a year now. He bike commutes to work, and has run several marathons. During graduate school, ice hockey was his favorite sport. I hope that you can relax and look forward to the birth of your wonderful baby. Kim
I don't have specific advice, but my husband was born with club feet, as were all of his siblings. He and one of his brothers required surgery to correct it -- he was about 4 years old at the time. I think his other siblings just had to wear braces at bedtime for a number of years, and maybe special shoes. This was in the late 60s, early 70s so the treatments may be different now. Anyway, they are all fine and and had ''normal'' childhoods; no problems or limitations on physical activities at all. Anon
Our 1 year old daughter was born with an orthopedic impairment that affects both hands/arms. We have been *very* happy with the occupational and physical therapy she has received through Children's Hospital in Oakland. I highly recommend their rehab department, especially Dr. Bob Haining (physiotherapist), Ginny Gibson (OT) and Caryn Lesko (PT). There is a lot to learn, but the staff at CHO are great about ensuring that you know what to look out for, and why they are or are not doing various treatments/therapies. Best of luck to you and your family. --On the road less traveled
Dr. Scott Hoffinger at Children's Hospital is an orthopedist with much experience in treating this problem. I work with him, and recommend him highly. R.N.
Please look at http://six-feet.com/clubfoot.html Your baby will be fine. You just need to make sure that you get your baby treated by a Ponseti certified doctor. If you can, it's worth the trip to go to Iowa to be treated by Dr. Ponseti himself. We took our 3 week old to Iowa to get treated and she runs, dances, jumps like any toddler now. Please join the clubfoot support group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nosurgery4clubfoot/ There are many parents of clubfoot babies who can help you out - it's a treatable birth defect and if treated properly it's really not a big deal. mom of totally corrected clubfoot toddler
My husband was born with a club foot. My mother-in-law said he wore a brace for 6 months, and it was fine. That was 42 years ago. His foot is still perfectly normal. He plays and coaches basketball, runs, bikes. Lots of people were born with club foot, Kirsti Yamaguchi, David Lynch, Mia Hamm. They overcame the condition and enjoyed long and successful careers. Maybe your baby will win a Olympic gold metal someday. Just be sure to pick a good pediatrician and let her/him know about it. married to ex-club foot
I encourage you to check out the Shriners Hospitals for Children (http://www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals/Main/). Their Northern California hospital is in Sacramento. This is from their website: Shriners Hospitals for Children is a one-of-a-kind health care system dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Every year, the 22 hospitals provide care for thousands of kids with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, in a family-centered environment at no charge. It's how Shriners Hospitals has been helping kids defy the odds since 1922. My dad was a Shriner for 50 years, and I can vouch for the amazing care they give to kids of all circumstances! Good luck with your new baby! Shriners Rock!
Our 17-month old girl was born with right club foot. We consulted with Dr. Ponseti, who referred us to Dr. Michael Colburn, who has been trained by Dr. Ponseti. Dr. Colburn works out of Kaiser offices in Walnut Creek and Pleasanton. Our daughter had a series of casts on her right foot & leg starting when she was 10 days old. After her 5th cast, she had a tenotomy, and her foot was corrected, and wore a footbrace most of the time. She still wears a footbrace at night, but is walking all over the place in regular shoes now. I would highly recommend Dr. Colburn as he has treated many, many cases of clubfoot. He is a Kaiser doctor, but will treat your baby even if you don't have Kaiser (we didn't). If you are considering other doctors, be sure to ''interview'' them ahead of time, and ask how many clubfoot babies they treat a year, and what their followup relapse rate is. We did consult with both Dr. Hoffinger & Dr. Colburn before our baby was born, and felt better about going with Dr. Colburn because of his experience. I would also recommend the Ponseti/clubfoot Yahoo groups someone else mentioned. Good luck! mom of baby girl right club foot
I just submitted advice about Dr. Colburn (Dr. who treated my daughter's club foot - still seeing him for followup visits). I wanted to provide you with a paper for additional reading material: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/113/2/376.pdf Hope it helps!
and the Yahoo groups (you are not alone - people on the site are wonderfully supportive!): http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nosurgery4clubfoot/ mom of baby girl with right club foot
I missed your posting about club foot. My Daughter just had her third procedure done on her right foot at 4 years old. What you will need to have done depands on the severity of the club foot. We have been going to Children's hospital and love it. Our Doctor is Dr. Hoffenger and he is one of the best in the country. Please give me a call if you want to talk about it. I wish I had gotten a little more information before she was born. chris
Club foot appearing at 8 months?
June 2007
Can a club foot appear spontaneously? For the past two days, my 8 m.o. daughter's left foot has been turning in towards the other foot. This seems to be causing her no pain -- it's me who is worrying! It is not constant, so perhaps this is not a club foot? Perhaps it's just her learning a new way to move and enjoying moving her body in a new way? Where I have looked online all mention club foot as a congenital defect, which I would assume means NOT out of the blue... any thoughts on this, or recommendations for websites to check out? So far my plan is to mention it to the doctor the next time we're in the office... or is this a priority? Thanks. k
My husband's an MD and he's never heard of a club foot that's not congenital. I bet, this too, will pass. If she's not in pain, and it's not constant, I wouldn't worry about it. Mom of 3
You may have something more serious going on here, but I did notice my son's feet turn more in towards each other for a few months after he started crawling (6 months) but before walking (15 months). No explanation, and it's now gone. No harm in mentioning it to your doctor, though.
My sister just had a baby with a club foot
April 2000
My sister just had a baby with a club foot. She has been to two different orthopedists, one recommended surgery, the other successive casts. Has anyone had experience with this? Can anyone tell me who would be the best doctor or practice to consult? thanks, Lynn
My daughter did not have a club foot, but, at around 19 months (she'd just started walking) her feet were turning in and our doctor recommended that she be seen by an orthopedist. We went for the appointment with Dr. Donald Townsend (3300 Webster, Oakland, 893-4854). He x-rayed her feet and showed me how the bones were growing at a distinct angle. He said that casting would correct this problem and put the casts on that same day. I was pretty distraught because she couldn't walk anymore. However, it was only a short while before she was toddling around in the casts and they did not bother or slow her down at all. (Of course, she sounded like Frankenstein coming across the floor, but, at least we knew where she was at all times!)
We went in three times (I think) to have the casts changed. It was not easy because they had to use a saw to take the casts off, then would put them back on. My daughter was not very happy about that, but we survived it. I think she wore them for about 6 months, but she's 8 now, and I can't quite remember. On the whole, I was VERY glad we did it. Her post-cast x-rays showed completely straight feet. Dr. Townsend commented to me when we went in for our last visit, that many insurance companies were no longer covering this procedure, as they deemed it cosmetic. I feel very fortunate that we were able to do it, since my niece suffers from extreme pigeon toes and it does effect her running, so I do not agree with the insurance company assessment of the procedure. Good luck to your sister! Ann
My nephew has/had clubfoot, not too severe though. Anyway, they did sucessive casts and it seems to be working, although at almost one year, he still has to do the brace. I believe that surgery might have been an option had the hard cast not worked (it was at least several months of a hard cast before the brace), but it did. So maybe they try the cast first and see how it goes. They live in so. cal so i can't give a recommendation for a doc.
Hilary
Hi! We got the same diagnosis at our 20-week ultrasound, and our son was born in May.
We also have Kaiser and worked with Dr. Kaiser for his casting. He’s now in the 23-hour boots-and-bar phase.
We didn’t find a Bay Area support group, but we’d be happy to connect and share our experience if you’d like to chat. It felt really scary when we first found out, but everything has turned out just fine
Hi, sorry to hear you are going down this road. It is very stressful. We had the same finding on our 20 week ultrasound last year. I believe Oakland Children’s Hospital has support groups for parents. Dr. Colleen Sabatini and her colleagues. I don’t want to give you false hope But we were one of the rare lucky ones who ended up not actually having clubfoot. It was just the way the foot was positioned in utero. The ultrasound technology isn’t always as advanced as we hope. Good luck to you on your journey.
Hi,
I'm not aware of any local support groups but I've found that Clubfoot Support Group and others on Facebook were quite useful. Our daughter (who is 2 now) was diagnosed with unilateral clubfoot a couple of weeks after birth, and we've been through the journey of serial casting + night-time braces. Feel free to DM me with any questions!
One quick tip I have would be to look into ADM braces once your child is a bit older. Ours was on the milder side and unilateral so we received the greenlight from our doctor (we're with UCSF) to switch to ADM braces (https://kiddfoot.com/adm-modular-system), which are quite expensive and not always covered by insurance BUT was a life-saver once our daughter got older / more mobile and protested the Ponsetti shoes (which, while still the golden standard, are quite outdated and cumbersome for the child).
Dr. Mitzi Williams, who is a well known DPM that used to practice at Kaiser Oakland might be a great resource for your family and could direct you to local professionals that she knows personally and professionally. She has also published books for kids about the journey. https://paleyinstitute.org/mitzi-williams-dpm/
We have a 12 year old who had a club foot identified at the 20 week ultrasound. We did all our treatment back east but just wanted to tell you it will all be ok! Those first few months with the casting and then the boots and bar are such a blur now. Our kid has no memory of his boots and bar, and you'd never know what he went through as a little guy! Biggest suggestion we got that helped was baby leg warmers and onesies! And a pool noodle over the bar to help with sleep. Good luck!!
Congratulations on your little one! We went through this exact thing with our first. He’s now about to turn 4 and we are done with treatment; you’d never know he was born with clubfoot. Good on you for starting to prep and get resources lined up. You’ve got this!
The best support group I found was the Clubfoot Community of California Facebook group. I’m someone who barely uses FB, but the group was a really wonderful place to get localized advice on best doctors and tips for what to do when, for example, your baby pees on their cast (answer: whip out the blow dryer!) I also found it less overwhelming than the national group.
As to specialists, we saw Dr. Frick at Stanford but unfortunately he moved East last year to be closer to his grown kids (one of whom had clubfoot). We still get semi-annual checkups with his team, though; I imagine you could easily find out who took over his practice and what the FB group’s thoughts on that doc are.
Some unsolicited advice: as you note, the diagnosis is treatable and could be much worse. But I still found myself getting bummed about small, iconic baby things that we missed out on, like not being able to put my baby in footie pajamas. Let yourself have those moments, then look for fun alternatives: colorful leg warmers for the cast phase (they serve double duty to ward against pee, see above), and themed bar covers (sold on Etsy).
Feel free to DM me, I’m happy to chat further!