ABSTRACT
Contractures of the foot and ankle, while common, remain a challenging problem for the orthopedic surgeon. Rigid soft-tissue contractures may be caused by nerve, skin, or muscle pathology and can be seen in patients suffering from one of a variety of conditions: burns, poliomyelitis, or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Additionally, high-energy trauma may cause bony deformities such as malunion, nonunion, and infection, and congenital malformations may present both soft-tissue and bony pathology. Fortunately, the orthopedic surgeon possesses a variety of techniques with which to address these varied problems: casting, soft-tissue release and transfer, osteotomies, internal and external fixation techniques, arthrodesis, and amputation.
