Paging Dr. Google!

The Ponseti Method – An Internet Success Story!

One of the more amazing things I have had the opportunity to witness in my practice lifetime is the acceptance of a method of correcting clubfoot I was taught in Podiatry school. At that time orthopedic surgeons did extensive surgery to correct clubfoot which was traumatic to the child (and parents), and often caused problems later in life. Since podiatrists at that time were much less surgically oriented than orthopedic surgeons, we were taught the Ponseti method for clubfoot correction. Since then I wondered why parents subjected their babies to extensive surgery when the Ponseti Method corrected the problem simply and with minimal future problems.

Enter the internet! Parents found out about the Ponseti Method – and demanded it! And guess what – now the relatively unknown Ponseti Method is the standard treatment for clubfoot deformity!

The Ponseti Method has been accepted as the “gold standard treatment for clubfoot” by both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institutes of Health. They note this method is “very easy on the child and effective in 95% of cases.”