A brave Asturian, cavo varus foot by spina bifida
She was determined to solve the problem of her left foot, after so many neurological controls anyone knew about the possibility of reconstructing her feet in order to improve her walking ability.
Frequent falls, lack of stability was a constant in her everyday life. She decided to be operated and they practiced metatarsal’s osteotomies yet it did not solved the problem, It made it even worse.
She visited the IICOP and I explored her feet, finding a lack of functionality of the anterior tibial muscle, a shortening of the Achilles tendon as well as a cavo varus foot deformity. The gait was typical of this sort patients, as you can watch in the video below.
She went back to her home town and told everyone what she had experienced in Madrid.The neurologist transmit her an utterly feeling of disbelief when he was hearing about foot reconstruction techniques.
Nonetheless she was decisive, she wanted us to operate on her neurological foot caused by spina bifida.
Last october we made a full correction of her left foot, both a lengthening of the muscles and a transplant of the posterior tibial tendon to the lift of the foot were done. The hinfoot bones w
ere aligned and finally clawtoes were repaired. There was no need in strengthening the calf muscles.
She came back to the IICOP a few months after surgery. She was very happy that she could walk normally even she asked if she could wear high heels and the answer was:“YES, WHY NOT?”
The neurologist was shocked when he saw the foot correction. Now the patient have a normal life she is able to walk again without pain, using normal shoes.
I think is the responsibility of many neurologists or rehabilitation doctors(hopefully one of them read me) to stay tuned for their patients and have a duty to know that neurological feet can be rebuilt and this return the patient the ability to have a better life.
