Casting corrects the deformed foot and Bracing maintains the corrected foot. Maintaining the achieved correction is the key to success in the Ponseti method. Well-renowned and experienced doctors may provide the best cast, and best tenotomy and achieve almost near-normal correction but if this corrected foot is not maintained using an appropriate brace, the foot will relapse. Access to the right brace for four to five years after the initial treatment is crucial. Corrected foot not kept in the corrected position with a brace will relapse and become clubfoot again. When there is a relapse, the child has to once again start treatment with weekly manipulation and plaster casting. By now the child has grown big and managing a grownup child with a cast on both feet is very difficult compared with a newborn baby or any child below one year. So access to a good foot abduction brace is the right of the child and very important to the successful conclusion of the treatment.
Braces in the market range from Rs 600 to Rs 60,000. However what is important is if the brace has:
Please remember that immediately after the tenotomy cast is removed, the foot has to be in the brace. Just as the time between the removal of the old cast and application of the new cast should not be more than one hour, the brace also should be worn without much time gap.
The trend is that parents with less economic resources manage to buy one pair of foot abduction brace. Since the foot looks normal at this stage of treatment, parents don’t understand the importance of repeatedly buying the brace. Parents doubt the persuasion of the brace seller thinking it’s for profit that he is forcing them to buy more braces. The less-income families have to be supported with a free brace to confirm that they ensure compliance.
Site by NWD.