Re: Newby!

April 3, 2005

Hi Claire

Happy to see another Australian has joined the group! There aren't many of us.

I think you've come to the right spot for information on club feet. I think the

people here now more than the doctors, they're very helpful. I'm positively

sure someone will have useful and relevant info for you.

We have a son, Billy who is almost 12 months and has a right club foot, although

now its looking very normal. He had his achilles tendon lengthened and his

curly toe tendon was also lenghtened. He is being treated by Leo Donnan from the

Melbourne Childrens' Hospital. So far, so good. He appears to be following the

Ponsetti method.

I wish you all the best for Callan and hope you find what you are after.

Sharon

charvey_baker charvey_baker@...> wrote:

Hello to all

My name is Claire and my son Callan (almost 9mths) was born with

bilateral talipes and quite severe at that. His right foot was a 6/6

and his left foot was a 5.5/6! We are under the care of Dr

Pincus and Poulson (physio) at The Brisbane Royal Childrens

Hospital. Callan had Tendon Releases on both feet at 3mths and is

coming along nicely. He is in DBB's now, coming out of them for

4hours each morning and at bathtimes. is a little worried at

the present time, as he tends to have regressed slightly with his

right toes hooking around. We have got an appt with tommorrow

morning, as it looks as though he is going to have to have the heel

(on both feet) operated on, I think it's called the Percatannius

Release? correct me if I'm wrong! It is quite a mammoth operation

and I would appreciate anyone out there that can point me/us in the

direction of correction without this surgery. & do a

variation of the Ponseti Method, instead of weekly castings, they do

DBB splints and tape on a weekly change, this has been great for

Callan as his feet are now rated at 1/6 right foot & .5/6 left foot.

But this op really has me concerned, as for the scar tissue as he

grows and further ops down the track.

Look forward to hearing from anyone. Take care.

Claire & Callan

April 3, 2005

Welcome Claire! Welcome Callan!

It does not sound like your doctor and physio are using the Ponseti method, even

a " modified " Ponseti method.

You can find a description of the Ponseti method at Dr Ponseti's site:

http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/orthopaedics/clubfeet/index.html

I'm not sure what you mean by " they do

DBB splints and tape on a weekly change " .

Do you mean that they tape his feet onto plates mounted on a bar(the Denis

Browne Bar)? Or does he have open-toed boots mounted on the bar?

The purpose of the castings in the Ponseti method is to slowly and gently

realign the bones in the foot and bring them into their proper positions. The

DBB(many of us here refer to it as the Foot Abduction Brace, FAB) serves as a

retainer once full correction has been achieved. The DBB does not do any of the

work of correction.

The only tendon release--indeed the only thing close to surgical intervention in

almost every case--called for in the Ponseti method is usually referred to as

the percutaneous Achilles tenotomy. This is a procedure where the Achilles

tendon is cut just under the skin. Most physicians perform it in the cast room

under local anesthetic. It does not require stitches. The child is immediately

casted and those casts remain in place for 3 weeks. It is by far not a " mammoth

surgery " .

There is another surgery, which many people call " the clubfoot surgery " , the

posteriomedial release. This is a very involved surgery and many children wind

up having to follow this up with other surgeries. In the hands of an

experienced doctor following the Ponseti method, this type of surgery can be

avoided in over 95% of cases.

What kind of tendon release did your son already have?

9 months is not too old to start treatment with a Ponseti doctor. If your son's

feet are nearly corrected now, it would probably not take much to achieve full

correction. Here is the contact information for doctors in Australia/New

Zealand:

Bellemore, M.D.

Suite 3, Ground Floor

Children's Hospital Centre

Hainsworth Street

Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia

Tel: (02) 9893-7394

Haemish Crawford, M.D.

Starship Children's Hospital

Private Bag 92024

Aukland, New Zealand

Tel: 09-379-7440

Ponseti Club Foot Clinic

Monash Medical Centre, Clinic- B

Clayton, Melbourne

Tel: 9594 6666

I do hope that this is of some help. We switched our son's care to that of a

Ponseti doctor after 4 months of little progress with a non-Ponseti doc. It was

a little dismaying to be starting over and we travel 6 hours each way to see

Jonah's dc. I have no regrets though. At 21 months, Jonah walks, runs, jumps

off furniture, his feet look perfect.

Please let us know how your appointment goes. And, of course, if there is

anything else we can help you with.

Naomi

The Family Naomi Hannah(02/21/01) Jonah(06/20/03, bilateral

clubfoot, FAB 14/7)