What is a congenital vertical talus?

A vertical talus or a congenital vertical talus is a infrequent disability of the foot which is typically present at birth. It’s an severe kind of flat foot that can impact one or both feet. The talus is small bone inside the rearfoot that points forwards in a horizontal direction and sits amongst the tibia and fibula bones of the leg and the calcaneus bone to make the ankle joint structure. With a foot with congenital vertical talus, the talus bone points towards the floor in a vertical posture. The implications with this can be a stiff and rigid foot with no arch that is frequently termed as a rocker bottom foot. The issue can arise on it’s own or may be a part of a bigger syndrome including arthrogryposis or spina bifida. There’s also a less serious form of this problem called oblique talus which is midway between the horizontal and vertical forms of the talus. This type is a lot more flexible and only shows up when weightbearing.

A congenital vertical talus is usually recognized at birth, however it can occasionally be discovered with ultrasound examination in the pregnancy. An examination of the foot will probably show the issue and is used to decide precisely how inflexible it is. There is certainly usually no pain at first, however, if it is not treated the foot will stay deformed and with later walking it is going to generally become painful. An x-ray will clearly detect the talus in a increased vertical location. Some experts look at a congenital vertical talus as a mild type of a clubfoot.

Generally, some surgical treatment is typically required to manage the congenital vertical talus deformity. However, the pediatric doctor may want to try a period of stretching out or bracing in an attempt to improve the flexibility and posture of the foot. While in only a few cases will this eliminate the requirement for surgical treatment entirely it is more likely to minimize the total amount and magnitude of surgery that is needed and lead to a far better final result from surgery. Bracing is required over a number of appointments and replaced weekly to keep moving the foot right into a a lot more corrected placement. When there is insufficient of an improvement with this approach then surgical procedures will probably be needed. The magnitude of the surgery for a congenital vertical talus may depend on just how much the casting changed the foot and exactly how rigid the problem is. In the event the foot is rigidly deformed, then this surgery will have to be much more substantial and it is generally completed before one year of age. The entire reason for the surgical treatment is to correct the position of the bones within the foot. To get this done generally needs a few tendons and ligaments to become extended to permit the bones of the foot to be relocated. Those bones will be held in position with screws and put within a splint. These bone pins typically get removed after 4 to 6 weeks. A special shoe or brace might need to be worn for a period of time just after that to preserve correction.

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