Hello my son was born in 2002 with severe clubfeet. They turned completely in. At 8 months of age after 7 months of casting which did not work he had surgery to correct the feet at Denver children’s hospital. My son Seth grew to be an active young man without any issues until his freshman year of high school.
He began fracturing bones when doing any prolonged activity as little as walking. He has fractures the feet three different times since. Seth deals with a lot of swelling and pain even when the feet are not fractured. He attempted to play football and only managed it his sophomore year but over compensated for his feet and tore every ligament in his right shoulder which ended with surgery December 2018. He has since realized football is not an option.
Going into his junior year now he has another stress fracture in the heal of his left foot which we know was done due to walking.. insane right… I took him to another orthopaedic specialist who says the only option to relieve the pain, swelling and constant stress fractures is to perform a triple Arthrodesis. He stated not ideal for a 17 year old however the only option to give Seth quality of life.
I worry what this means long term and wondering if anyone on this sight has the same surgery due to clubfeet and their experience after surgery. If we did this he would be spending all of his junior and senior year of high school having surgery and recovering because you only do one foot at a time. Doing both would be very difficult. I’m just scarred as a mom that this will make it worse.. or cause him major issues later in life. It’s hard enough to deal with the fact I can not fix this for him.. if I could trade feet with my child I already would have. It’s a hopeless feeling watching your child struggle and deal with constant pain.. sorry for the rant but no one around seems to get it. Thank you for listening !!
This surgery was performed on my right foot at the age of 21 . Now at the age of 60 , I am due for both knee replacements. For people with club feet the misaligned bones create trouble. Your son may get pain relief now from surgery. But we clubies suffer our whole life.
Parents do best for their kids
My best wishes to you and ur son.
I am sorry your son is dealing with all this at such a young age. I have also gotten fractures in both of my club feet by just standing or walking. I have had to get special orthotics and I can only wear a sturdy shoes currently I have been wearing SAS shoes. I am waiting on my prescription shoes that have to be special made for me because my feet are extremely wide and short. My feet also swell a lot, they said it is from the scar tissue from my club feet surgeries as a child.