What is club foot

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Club Foot Information
What are Club Feet?

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Club Feet
What is Club Feet?

Club foot or club feet are known as Talipes, which comes from the medical name congenital talipes equinovarus. Congenital talipes equinovarus means a deformity of the feet and ankle that is present at birth. Within the United States, one per one thousand live births is born with a clubbed foot or feet. Club Foot starts during the first trimester of pregnancy where the baby’s ankle and foot (feet) within the womb become deformed. Their bones, joints, muscles, and blood vessels of the foot (feet) are incorrectly formed due to the foot not being able to keep up with the development of the rest of the foot. The defect may be mild or severe. The foot of an affected child has been described as “kidney shaped”, since the appearance of the foot points downward and twisted inwards and the foot and calf are also often noticeably smaller.

A club foot is usually turned in, stiff, and lacks the normal range of motion. Doctors are unsure of what causes the deformity but do know that the deformity occurs more in boys than in girls and may be caused from a family history. If Club foot is not fixed in time then the bones of the clubbed foot (feet) will become mis-shaped and unfixable.

When my mother was pregnant twenty-three years ago, she thought she was pregnant with a big boy since she never went to receive an ultra sound during her pregnancy. On October 11^th 1983, my mother was in for a big surprise when she gave birth to a set of twin baby girls. My sister and I were taken away from our parents right after birth since we both had complications. My sister was placed on a breathing tube since she wasn’t breathing correctly on her own and I was taken into another room for a few hours since something was wrong with my foot. The doctors brought me back to my parents and told them that I was diagnosed with a mild deformity of Club Foot. The doctors told my parents that I was born with a clubbed foot but didn’t know why. The doctors believed that since I was a twin I wasn't able to get the room space I needed to grow in my mother's womb which caused my foot to grow improperly. The doctors told my parents that they were going to place me in a plastic cast that would have to be changed by a Pediatric doctor every two weeks at Children’s Hospital located in Philadelphia for eight consecutive weeks if they wanted my foot to grow properly and straight.