Gait Analysis in Children With Clubfoot Treated With Tibialis Anterior Tendon Transfer

Normalization of Forefoot Supination After Tibialis Anterior Tendon Transfer for Dynamic Clubfoot Recurrence

Patients with clubfoot treated with the Ponseti method and undergoing Tibialis Anterior tendon transfer from a prospective database are evaluated using gait analysis including the Oxford foot model and compared to a group of healthy children.

Children with dynamic clubfoot recurrence after initial Ponseti treatment who underwent TATT between 2014 and 2017 are considered for this study. Exclusion criteria are neurological disease, split transfer of the tendon, additional bone or joint invasive surgery, and initial treatment abroad.

Gait analysis, including the Oxford foot model, will be conducted, and the kinematic and kinetic data of the lower extremity will be compared with a group of age-matched healthy children. To comprise a control group for the purpose of collecting gait analysis data of healthy children, employees of our hospital are asked to allow their children to participate in this study.

Patients will undergo gait analysis, including video recordings with a Vicon motion capture system (Vicon, Oxford, UK) with kinetic data collected from three AMTI force plates (Advanced Mechanical Technology, Inc., Watertown, MA). Placement of markers will be a combination of Cleveland (lower extremity), PlugInGait (upper body), and Oxford Foot (movement within the foot) models.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children with unilateral or bilateral idiopathic clubfoot treated with the Ponseti method
• full TATT

Exclusion Criteria:

• clubfoot associated with syndromes or neurological diseases
• initial Treatment elsewhere with more than 3 casts
• prior joint invasive or bony surgery
• split transfer of the tibialis anterior tendon