Nineteen papers on club-foot, followed by an extended discussion, chiefly occupied the American Orthopedic Association at its recent meeting in New York. We will attempt to summarize these deliberations.
In congenital club-foot there is a shortening of all tissues, bony, ligamentous, muscular, tendinous, fibrous and cutaneous, on the side to which the deformity looks. In certain cases the deformity can be corrected without resort to a cutting operation; in others not. In the child with growing bones, if the foot can be continuously maintained in the corrected position for a sufficiently long time, the bony and soft parts adapt themselves to the changed position and a permanent cure may result, but in the older foot, even if the deformity can be corrected by non-operative means, a perfect and permanent result may not be anticipated unless a bone operation be made which will restore the articular surfaces to their normal outlook.