The long-term functional and radiographic outcomes of untreated and non-operatively treated metatarsus adductus

J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1994 Feb;76(2):257-65. doi: 10.2106/00004623-199402000-00014.

Abstract

Thirty-one patients (forty-five feet) who had metatarsus adductus were evaluated at our institution and were followed for an average of thirty-two years and six months. Of these thirty-one patients, twenty-one (thirty-one feet) were examined clinically and radiographically. Information on the remaining ten patients (fourteen feet) was obtained by letter or telephone, or both. Twelve patients (sixteen feet) who had a passively correctable deformity (mild or moderate) at the time of the initial presentation had no treatment. Twenty patients (twenty-nine feet) who had a partly flexible or rigid deformity (moderate or severe) at the time of the initial presentation were managed with serial manipulation and application of plaster holding casts. (One patient who had a bilateral deformity had no treatment on one side and conservative management on the other). The results were good in all sixteen of the untreated feet and in twenty-six (90 per cent) of the twenty-nine feet that had been conservatively treated. There were no poor results. The passively correctable deformities resolved spontaneously. Radiographs showed an obliquity of the medial cuneiform-metatarsal joint in twenty-one (68 per cent) of the thirty-one feet that were examined clinically and radiographically. Similar findings were observed in four of eleven contralateral, normal feet. Hallux valgus was not a common outcome. No patient had operative correction.

MeSH terms

  • Activities of Daily Living
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Casts, Surgical*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Foot Deformities, Congenital / diagnostic imaging*
  • Foot Deformities, Congenital / physiopathology
  • Foot Deformities, Congenital / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Manipulation, Orthopedic*
  • Metatarsus / abnormalities*
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Satisfaction
  • Radiography
  • Range of Motion, Articular
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Treatment Outcome