Dedication
In my earlier post about myself, I mentioned that I was born clubfooted. Both of my feet turned in to where the bottom of each my feet touched the ankle. It is my understanding that in the mid-70’s when I was born, surgery to release the foot was the most popular method to “fix” this problem. However, the surgery leaves the patient with shortened tendons, less mobility, stiffness later in life, and overall pain when walking forever.
I was incredibly lucky that my parents decided to bring me into this world at Baptist Hospital, which was not in our very small rural hometown. The doctors at Baptist used a method to correct my feet using casts to hold my feet in place for the first six months of life. Then, I wore really weird looking braces (the shoes for these braces looked like they were on the wrong feet) for the first year of walking. After that, I had flat feet, but they worked fine.
As I was researching subtalar neutral, I found the name of the man who invented the cast and brace method of treating club feet, Dr. Ignacio Ponseti. He invented this method in the 1950’s, and it is now being taken to countries around the world. They have found that clubfoot can be treated in older children as well.
Having been a successful recipient of this method, I feel very indebted to Dr. Ponseti and the Ponseti Method. Although I gripe about my feet not functioning correctly, I cannot imagine what my blog would say had I been treated with surgery or, even worse, not been treated at all.
So, I dedicate this blog to a man I have never met, but without whom I would not have the potential to run. To Dr. Ignacio Ponseti (1914-2009), thanks for helping me run!