SIX miracle feet centers in North Luzon are set to participate in the Ponseti Training or Tenotomy of Clubfoot Saturday, June 15 in Baguio City.
The weekend workshop will include Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center, Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Region 1 Medical Center, Baguio General Hospital, Benguet General Hospital, and Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital.
The activity seeks to improve skills and standardize patient care. Participants will be around 25 to 30 coming from the different miracle feet centers.
Clubfoot, also known as Congenital Talipes Equinovarus (CTEV), is an inborn congenital deformity of the foot and one of the leading causes of physical disability in the world. It is one of the most common severe birth defect of the limb where in the feet are turned inwards and upwards, adding those with clubfoot experience severe consequences of painful walking, limp, deformity, discrimination, neglect, inequality and abuse.
Miracle Feet, together with the Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health and Welfare Inc. (PNGOC) trained the hospitals on the Ponseti method which involves gentle manipulation of the tendons and ligaments followed by a series of three to five casts to restore the feet into the correct position.
Full correction is usually achieved within six to eight weeks. However, the child must wear a brace at night for four to five years to lower the risk of relapse.
This is followed by a minor surgical intervention to release the Achilles tendon under local anaesthetic.
In the Philippines, approximately 3,000 children are born with clubfoot every year.
The core idea for the Miracle Feet’s global vision which is Run Free 2030 aims to end clubfoot disability as a global strategy to lessen the consequences of more clubfoot patients.