Clubfoot: Review on Assessment, Treatment, Challenges, and Engineering Aspects

ABSTRACT Introduction Clubfoot, mainly CTEV, is a complex three-dimensional deformity challenging physicians from ancient times. Among a thousand babies born, one to six suffer from clubfoot deformity; that is, in India alone, around 35,000 need treatment for clubfoot annually. This review summarizes the various practices of clubfoot assessment, noninvasive treatment, and engineering aspects of clubfoot treatment. The shortcomings of assessment methods and challenges with implementation of treatment methods are also presented. Methods A narrative review of all related research papers available to authors was carried out. Results Various clubfoot assessment methods have been developed to help physicians understand the severity of the problem and predict treatment parameters. The Pirani score and Dimeglio score are used predominantly for the assessment of deformity. However, these methods suffer from implementation-related limitations. Noninvasive methods, namely, Kite's method, functional physiotherapy method, and Ponseti method, are used in practice for treatment. The Ponseti method is the most popular with parents and physicians and is considered the gold standard for the treatment of clubfoot. However, it also suffers from various implementation issues, like treatment cost and lack of experts, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Engineers are using various technologies like computer-aided design (CAD)/computer-aided engineering (CAE) and additive manufacturing for modeling and analysis of clubfoot. Engineers have also attempted to develop corrective and maintenance orthosis for CTEV treatment. Conclusions Because newer and newer technologies are becoming accessible for interdisciplinary use, there is a need to apply contemporary technologies, especially to develop a corrective orthosis so that the current challenges of clubfoot assessment and treatment are addressed. The corrective orthosis should be based on Dr Ponseti's insights into clubfoot biomechanics. Clinical Relevance There is a need to explore contemporary technologies like data acquisition and CAD/CAE to address CTEV assessment–related issues. A corrective orthosis based on the understanding of the foot biomechanics for treatment can solve the various implementation-related challenges of the Ponseti method, particularly in low-resource settings.