“The real challenge of the Ponseti Method begins when casting ends.
Children must wear a brace locking their feet in place 23 hours a day.
After three months, the time required begins to drop incrementally
until age 4 or 5 when, according to Dr. Ponseti, the gene that causes club
feet is no longer active.”
The Ponseti AFO goes by many common names such as:
- The Ponseti Brace
- The Mitchell Brace
- Ponseti AFO with abduction/rotation bar
- FAB or Foot Abduction Brace
- DBB or Denis Brown Bar – this name has incorrectly been applied to the Ponsetti AFO – this is the type of bar and boot that has been used prior to the development of the Ponsetti AFO. Baby shoes are attached with a flat steel bar.
The Ponseti AFO was developed by Dr. Ignacio Ponseti and John Mitchell. John Mitchell was working making anatomical models, plastic body parts doctors and teachers could use in the classroom. Dr. Ponseti, the pioneer of the non-surgical approach to clubfoot treatment known as the Ponseti method, recruited John Mitchell to develop a Foot Abduction Brace to prevent relapse.
The Ponseti AFO is designed to be more comfortable for the baby making it much easier to accept then the previous DBB, parents are more able to use it and the baby will sleep through the night.
The Ponseti AFO is available from MD Orthopaedics. The European distributors for MD Orthopaedics is c-prodirect
