Club Foot
Sydney Polzar
What is club foot?
- Birth defect of the foot.
- One or both feet are pointed down and curved in.
- Occurs when tendons are shorter than normal.
- 1 in 1000 babies are born with club foot each year.
Life Outlook
If you have surgery you can live an active life. You may have potential risk of nerve damage, foot swelling or interrupted blood flow to the foot. With no surgery you may have trouble walking.
Causes/ Complications
There are no real causes of clubfoot. If you smoke or do drugs while pregnant it can increase the risk of your baby having clubfoot. If you do not have enough amniotic fluid during pregnancy that can also increase the risk. Boys are twice as likely to get it than girls. Complications include, walking on sides of feet, trouble walking and sores on feet. Could also cause arthritis.
How to Cure/Treat Clubfoot
The only way to cure clubfoot is surgery. Surgery is done by an orthopedic surgeon. If you don't have surgery there are some ways you can treat it. You have to stretch you foot, then put it in a cast, then splint it to help you foot go to normal. This cannot completely cure clubfoot but it can help.
Works Cited
2. U.S National , Library of Medicine. "Club Foot." Medicine Plus. N.p., 22 03 2013. Web. 16 Apr 2013. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001228.htm>.