Dr. Ignacio Ponseti and His Contribution to Clubfoot Treatment

Dr. Ignacio Ponseti
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Dr. Ignacio Ponseti
Dr. Ignacio Ponseti is known for his contribution to clubfoot treatment (Gandee, 2017). He was born in Spain and died in Iowa (1914-2009). Dr. Ignacio was aged 95 when he passed away. His non-operative method of treating clubfoot is a massive legacy since it has benefited many patients worldwide (Gandee, 2017). The technique involves three processes; first, there is serial casting followed by a heel cord tenotomy and then brace wear. Notes on his treatment method and nursing of clubfoot patients are contained in his 1963 article about clubfoot management (Gandee, 2017). The article is crucial to orthopedic literature.
Dr. Ignacio Ponseti spends his early youth as a watchmaker in his father’s workshop in Spain. He joined the University of Barcelona for a medical course in 1931 (Shah et al. 2017). Later, Dr. Ponseti graduated and joined the Spanish Civil war in 1936. His primary role in the war was to treat and nurse wounded and fractured soldiers. When the war took a worse course, Dr. Ponseti got a chance to flee to France while he transported wounded soldiers. He spends six months in France before boarding a ship for Mexico as a refugee. Dr. Ponseti’s role as a doctor did not end with his seeking refuge in Mexico. He pursued a two-year course in general medicine in Mexico and then traveled to Iowa to acquire further training from Dr. Arthur Steindler.
In the 1940s, Dr. Ponseti developed an interest in Clubfoot while working at the University of Iowa, formerly known as the State University of Iowa. During the 1940s, surgery was the favored method of treating clubfoot (Shah et al. 2017). Dr. Ponseti realized that majority of clubfoot patient that had undergone extensive surgeries developed painful, rigid feet. For that reason, Dr. Ponseti started questioning the effectiveness of the clubfoot treatment method. He decided to look for a better treatment method, but he had to take a lot of time to be so conf...