Future of clubfoot

Clubfoot is the most common congenital orthopedic deformity with a high prevalence in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), where a major portion of the world population lives. There are two areas on which the future of clubfoot management depends: they are preventive and therapeutic. Once preventive measures have been effectively implemented, then come the therapeutic methods. Bracing is an important tool in the management of clubfoot for maintenance of correction and protection of recently healed surgical cases. There are bound to be improvements in this field as well. Heterogeneous skin contractures are an extremely important factor in the etiology of clubfoot. Clubfoot is prevalent in LMICs with tremendous Global burden of disease due to its physico-psycho-socioeconomic impact. They have physical disability, psychological inferiority complex with all of its problems, social isolation, and they are unemployed or underemployed. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.