Is the same brace fit for all? The length of abduction bar in Steenbeek foot abduction brace for Indian children-A pilot study.

Purpose: We measured the foot size and shoulder width in North Indian children with idiopathic clubfoot and calculated the corresponding metal rod length for abduction brace. The differences in the foot length in unaffected, unilateral and bilateral clubfeet were also measured.

Patient and methods: Two sets of measurements were taken on each child: feet size and shoulder width. Using statistical analysis, the following were compared: Differences in the manual prescribed and our calculated SFAB bar length, foot size in unilateral clubfoot and unaffected foot and both feet in bilateral clubfoot.

Results: There were 156 patients with 76 unilateral (37 left + 39 right) and 80 bilateral feet. The mean prescribed bar length for foot sizes 8-14 in the Steenbeek manual is 30.18 cm. The mean predicted bar length worked out to be 22.33 cm in our series (p < 0.001). In unilateral clubfoot, the mean foot length (11.9 cm) when matched with unaffected foot (12.6 cm) was comparable (p = 0.08). Bilateral clubfeet lengths (12.29 cm versus 12.3 cm) were also comparable (p = 0.978).

Conclusions: There was significant difference between the prescribed and the predicted bar length in foot sizes 8-14 with a smaller bar length measurement of Indian children. The Ponseti treated unilateral club foot length matched the unaffected foot. The foot lengths in bilateral feet disease were also similar.