My nephew is being treated for a clubfoot. The doctors keep changing his cast every week until they think he's ready for surgery. Wouldn't a brace be better so they could just adjust it rather than change a cast all the time. It seems to be such a waste.
A clubfoot, a condition where a child is born with one or both feet pointing inward and downward, can be treated in a few different ways. One way has the child being casted for several weeks before surgery is done, as it seems is happening with your nephew. Once the child's foot is casted, it is being manipulated into a certain position, so as the foot moves and grows, the cast needs to be changed to accommodate the changes and to apply pressure on different parts of the foot so it can be directed into the right position. Although bracing does play a role in some treatments of clubfoot, the cast is needed to put the needed pressure on 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Braces can be more difficult to handle and are not always kept on for the specified amounts of time.
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