Experts warn against clubfoot treatment by traditional bone setters

ALTHOUGH traditional bone setters may claim to offer treatment for clubfoot, a congenital deformity affecting the foot and ankle, it is crucial to seek medical attention from qualified healthcare professionals to lower the risk of complications.

An orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Adeoye Allen-Taylor, in his charge to parents in his lecture on “Management of Club Foot” at the February Continuing Medical Education (CME) by the Nigerian Medical Association Oyo State Branch, said delay or insufficient correction of clubfoot could lead to permanent disability, limit mobility, chronic pain, and reduced quality of life.

Allen–Taylor said clubfoot, a condition where the individual presents with a leg that looks like a hockey stick, accounts for about 80% of lower limb deformities, with a third of these cases affecting both legs.

He said clubfoot occurs in about 0.5 to 2 of every 1,000 live births, and its cause is often unknown, but it may be genetic or caused by environmental factors like the effect of teratogenic agents in pregnancy, maternal smoking, diabetes, and congenital constriction bands.

Dr Allen-Taylor declared that children with clubfoot also need to be screened for other birth abnormalities like spina bifida, improper anus, heart abnormalities, and tracheo-oesophageal fistula.

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He declared that although some people have talked about prenatal ultrasound scans to detect clubfoot in unborn babies, it has been found that there are more false positives because most times, you find that the clubfoot eventually is not significant.

The expert, however, declared that modern treatment methods, such as the Ponseti method, can effectively correct the deformity and improve mobility.

“The other major challenge we have is poor compliance with treatment, especially when the foot looks to have been corrected. Some people will be lost to follow-up and won’t come back until they see signs of recurrence,” he added.

Dr Allen-Tallow declared that in Oyo State, free treatment for children using the Ponseti method is ongoing at Bowen University, Ogbomoso, and Ring Road State Hospital, Ibadan, with support from the PLAN Foundation.

Chairman of Oyo State Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Happy Adedapo, said many parents abandon their children with clubfoot because of poverty, lack of understanding that it is treatable, and common miscommunication on the condition. He added that the CME was organised to keep doctors abreast of available treatments for clubfoot.

Chairman of the occasion and an orthopaedic surgeon and a former commissioner for health in Oyo State, Dr Gbola Olatunji, assured of the successful repair of clubfoot, particularly when carried out early in life.