The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate gait in children in middle childhood with clubfoot treated with Ponseti method versus posterior-only release and compare their results to a control group. Methods. Retrospective study approved by the Ethics Committee. Inclusion criteria: diagnosis of idiopathic clubfoot treated between 2004-2009 in one centre. Group1: 28 patients (39 clubfeet) treated with the posterior-only release.nGroup2: 18 patients (31 clubfeet) treated with the Ponseti method. Group3: 25 control subjects with no known musculoskeletal or neurologic abnormalities. A gait analysis was conducted with the Kinescan/IBV system. Results. Differences were found in all temporal and spatial parameters between the control and treatment groups. The analysis revealed that treatment groups displayed a slower gait, with wider step width, smaller step length and longer step time when compared with the control group, p=.000 . Visual assessment of individual kinematic data demonstrated that 3 patients (9%) with posterior release versus 10 patients (36%) had a normal gait, p=.012. Conclusion. Our study showed that biomechanical function of children in middle childhood treated with the Ponseti method were closer to healthy individuals than children treated using the posterior-only surgical technique.

The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate gait in children in middle childhood with clubfoot treated with Ponseti method versus posterior-only release and compare their results to a control group. Methods. Retrospective study approved by the Ethics Committee. Inclusion criteria: diagnosis of idiopathic clubfoot treated between 2004-2009 in one centre. Group1: 28 patients (39 clubfeet) treated with the posterior-only release.nGroup2: 18 patients (31 clubfeet) treated with the Ponseti method. Group3: 25 control subjects with no known musculoskeletal or neurologic abnormalities. A gait analysis was conducted with the Kinescan/IBV system. Results. Differences were found in all temporal and spatial parameters between the control and treatment groups. The analysis revealed that treatment groups displayed a slower gait, with wider step width, smaller step length and longer step time when compared with the control group, p=.000 . Visual assessment of individual kinematic data demonstrated that 3 patients (9%) with posterior release versus 10 patients (36%) had a normal gait, p=.012. Conclusion. Our study showed that biomechanical function of children in middle childhood treated with the Ponseti method were closer to healthy individuals than children treated using the posterior-only surgical technique.