Long-term follow-up of children with a surgically treated clubfoot: Assessing the multi-segment-foot motions, dynamic plantar pressures, and functional outcomes. J Clin Orthop Trauma 2022 Feb;25:101758
Date
01/18/2022Pubmed ID
35036311Pubmed Central ID
PMC8741602DOI
10.1016/j.jcot.2021.101758Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85122359510 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare surgically treated clubfoot with typically developing (TD) children using plantar pressure, multi-segment-foot kinematic analysis, and multiple functional outcomes in comprehensive and long-term study. Methods: 26 patients with 45 clubfeet and 23 TD children with 45 normal feet were evaluated. Most clubfoot patients had a complete subtalar release and a few patients had a posterior medial-lateral release at the mean age of 5 years and 6 months. The mean age at follow-up for clubfoot was 12 years and 5 months. Subjects underwent physical and radiographic examination, plantar pressure analysis, multi-segment-foot motion analysis, AAOS Foot & Ankle Questionnaire (AAOS-FAQ), the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
RESULTS: Clubfoot patients scored significantly worse than TD on the AAOS-FAQ (90.9 vs.99.9 for pain and comfort), the CBCL Problems scale (23.1 vs.6.3), and several subscales of the PODCI (86.5 vs.96.7 for Sports and Physical Functioning) (P<0.05). Peak pressure at the lateral heel (25.6 vs.29.6 N/cm2), contact area at the 1 st metatarsal head (1 st MT) (6.0 vs. 7.2 cm2) and the pressure time integral at the 1 st MT (5.2 vs. 11.0 N/cm2 ∗ s) were significantly lower for the clubfoot group compared to the TD foot group (P<0.05). Maximum dorsiflexion of the 1 st metatarsal-hallux (1 st MT-Hal) (17.5° vs. 34.8°) during stance phase (ST), supination of the 1 st MT-Hal during swing phase (SW) (4° vs. 7°), maximum plantarflexion of the ankle during ST (-6.8° vs.-11.2°), and maximum varus of the ankle during SW (4.4° vs. 6.9°) were also lower for clubfoot except for maximum dorsiflexion of the navicular-1 st MT (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: This study supports evidence that surgically treated clubfoot continues to have residual deformity of forefoot, overcorrection of hindfoot, stiffness, and a decrease in physical functioning. This comprehensive study accurately portrays postsurgical clubfoot function with objective means through appropriate technologies. A plantar pressure redistributed and finite element analysis designed orthosis may be of importance in the improvement of the foot and ankle joint function for ambulatory children with a relapse of clubfoot deformity.
Author List
Liu XC, Thometz J, Campbell J, Tassone CAuthors
Jonathan Edward Campbell MD Assistant Professor in the Orthopaedic Surgery department at Medical College of WisconsinXue-Cheng Liu PhD Professor in the Orthopaedic Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
