There are certain types of feet which, despite long and carefully applied corrective procedures, persist in assuming a bad valgus position with marked depression and flattening of the arches. We may prop them up, exercise them faithfully, and use massage, elevation, strapping and padding diligently for several years, and still find that, on removal of the brace or support, the foot tips and flattens as much as ever. Much attention has been given to the correction of valgus deformities in the paralytic type of flatfoot, but many are still withholding surgery from other forms of flatfoot, even though resistant to efforts at correction by other means.
Flatfoot of the congenital type, both rigid and flexible, and pes planus in young adults and adolescents, either flexible or rigid, that have failed of correction by conservative procedures, should be investigated most thoroughly to ascertain the cause of failure, and the same effort