Every Child Deserves A ChanceNearly 80% of children with congenital clubfoot birth defect are born in developing countries. Their families and Ponseti Method trained health providers lack the funds to pay for an effective clubfoot brace. The bracing phase of the Ponseti method is the critical component of treatment that prevents the recurrence of clubfoot in children. With your help, we can provide these children with the Iowa Brace and give each child a chance to live a productive life – free of pain and shame.
Thanks to the genius of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Jose Morcuende, MD, PHD, Nicole Grosland- Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor Emeritus of Public Health and Physical Therapy Dr. Thomas Cook the Iowa Brace was born.
Dr. Morcuende is also President of Ponseti International Association, a nonprofit dedicated to training physicians and health providers worldwide to properly practice the Ponseti Method. By training local providers PIA helps them establish their own sustainable national treatment programs.
The Ponseti Method for clubfoot treatment is based on a sound understanding of the functional anatomy of the foot and of the biological response of muscles, ligaments and bone to corrective position changes that can be gradually obtained by manipulation and casting. The majority of clubfeet can be corrected in infancy in about six to eight weeks if the Ponseti Method is properly applied.
“I am very impressed with the results created by the Ponseti Method and Clubfoot Solution’s Iowa Brace. Not only are children in developed countries able to avoid surgery, children in developing countries without access to sophisticated medical operations can successfully be treated of congenital clubfoot. Clubfoot is not hopeless. Clubfoot correction does not have to be painful.”
Iowa’s Ignacio Ponseti revolutionized clubfoot treatment with his gentle, nonsurgical approach. Now his successor, UI doctor Jose Morcuende, is on a lifelong mission to bring the Ponseti Method to the rest of the world.
The first video (2:07 minutes) is an excellent overview of clubfoot and the low-cost, highly effective Ponseti Method of treatment.
The second video (1:04 minutes) gives an overview of the breadth and depth of the incredible work of Dr. Jose Morcuende.