Dr. Ponset, Father of Clubfoot Treatment
This posting has nothing to do with the Morton’s Toe or Long Second Toe. A really important doctor died several months ago and I forgot to write about him
Dr. Ignacio V. Ponseti was an orthopedist who lived to be 95. He died in October 2009 He realized in the 1940’s that the most common surgery for clubfoot actually did more harm than good, by leaving the child with stiff limp ankles after it. Instead he developed a regimen of plaster casts, braces and manipulations to treat club foot by slowly and gradually straightening and rotating each twisted foot toward its normal position. The method was applied in stages. After each treatment, he would immobilize a child’s leg with a toe-to-groin plaster cast. A week later, he would remove the cast and shape the malleable foot a bit more, and then replace the cast. The treatment would last three to five weeks.
It is shame but like Dr. Morton, Dr. Ponseti work was not appreciated for about 50 years after it was presented. Medicine has a funny way of attacking those who develop anything new. It was not until the 1990’s that Dr. Ponset got the respect he desires. In the end his method has been endorsed by the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He was a great man
