Clubfoot Treatment: Kristi Yamaguchi, A Success Story

When Kristi Yamaguchi first took to the ice it wasn’t in hopes of an Olympic Gold Medal.  The future Olympic Champion (1992) and World Figure Skating Champion (1991 and 1992) had been born with fetal clubfoot, and figure skating was a form of physical therapy for her condition.  Fetal Clubfoot (talipes equinovarus) is a birth defect in which a child’s feet are misshapen.  The feet (or sometimes one foot only) turn inwards toward the middle of the body and appear abnormally small.  A child who learns to walk with clubfeet looks as if she is walking on her ankles.  This condition affects all parts of the feet: bones, muscles, tendons and blood vessels.  However, a child with clubfoot contains all the same anatomical parts as a normal child.  Nothing is missing; the foot is simply malformed.  

Treatment for Clubfoot is readily available and often proves successful, such as in case of Kristi Yamaguchi whose clubfoot was treated with a series of manipulations and castings.  This treatment is known as the Ponseti-method and it can begin as early as one week after a child’s birth.  A physical therapist gradually reshapes an infant’s foot by stretching it and then casting it over a period of 6-8 weeks.  More severe cases can require surgery.  There is approximately a 90% success rate with regards to early treatment.  Once a child starts walking, the child’s weight helps to maintain the corrected position of the foot, although it is possible that child’s foot will attempt to return to the clubfoot position.  

Special braces are worn for up to a year after the initial treatment, and orthopedic shoes also can be necessary to reinforce the proper positioning of the foot.  It is important to realize that a corrected clubfoot is not the same as a normal foot.  Though a child will be able to function normally in the world (or even exceptionally, as in the case of Kristi Yamaguchi), her corrected clubfoot may still cause some difficulties.  It is often one to one-and-half sizes smaller than the normal foot and can be stiffer and thereby less mobile.  Mismatched shoes and shoes with orthopedic support can help a person born with clubfoot get around with ease.   

So whether your child wants to run and play freely, or dreams of becoming a professional athlete like Yamaguchi or other athletes born with clubfoot (US soccer star Mia Hamm and baseball pitcher Larry Sherry, to name a couple of notable examples), clubfoot is a surmountable obstacle.  With early treatment and proper footwear, a child born with clubfoot can look forward to a normal and active life.