Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: clubfoot

  • On clubfoot, orthopedics, art, and history

    Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel A clubfoot,1 or congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV), is a birth defect in which the foot is inverted. If untreated, children with TEV often walk on their ankles, or on the sides of their feet. The condition occurs about one in every 1,000 live births. Recently, I watched an excellent French film,…

  • On becoming a disabled physician

    Mel EbelingBirmingham, Alabama, United States The same prominent scar blemishes each foot: beginning two inches below my big toe, it slithers along the medial aspect of my foot, making a hairpin turn around my ankle before coming to an abrupt halt on the opposite side, two inches below my pinky toe. I have bilateral congenital…

  • Two tales of talipes equinovarus

    Christopher WalkerBielsko-Biala, Poland Congenital talipes equinovarus, better known as clubfoot, is a poorly understood but surprisingly common medical condition. According to Ansar et al, it affects about one in one thousand newborns, though this figure varies by country.1 There is a roughly fifty-fifty split between those born with bilateral clubfoot and those with only one…

  • Madame Bovary: The clubfoot operation

    Charles Bovary is a country medical practitioner, mediocre, a simple man, not the brightest, but not unambitious. He reads that a simple tendon cutting operation could cure the village stable boy’s club foot, perhaps also bringing recognition to himself and celebrity to the village. At night he studies, trying to work things out. Is it…