Paediatria Croatica, Vol. 58 No. 3, 2014.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.13112/PC.2014.32
Lower leg atrophy in congenital talipes equinovarus
Aliz Bohner Beke
; Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs
Eleonora Leidecker
Tomas Koch
Andras Sramo
Janos Kranicz
Abstract
Although several authors have addressed calf atrophy, there is no study comparing cases with a sizable control group or describing
the development of healthy calf musculature. Keeping in mind the neuromuscular origin of clubfoot, the authors aimed to fi nd out
whether the “unaff ected” foot is really unaff ected in the unilateral clubfoot, and whether its circumference fails to reach the expected
measure. The authors examined 60 clubfeet of 40 cases (mean age: 18, range: 3-30 years) and recorded their body weight, height,
lower leg length and circumference. To record the same values in healthy controls, the same person examined 1086 feet of 543 subjects
aged 4-22 (mean age: 12.5 years). According to the measured values, lower leg length strongly correlates with body height and
circumference with body weight. This means the most important developmental trends of these parameters can be demonstrated
with polynomial regression models. In unilateral clubfoot, the mean diff erence in lower leg length and circumference between the
aff ected and unaff ected leg was 0.86 cm and 3.13 cm, respectively. Atrophy of the unaff ected leg can be justifi ed at 10% signifi cance
level. In the case of bilateral clubfoot, the diff erence in length and circumference is justifi ed by numerical results. By recording lower
leg length and circumference in controls, the authors pioneered documenting the parameters of healthy calf muscle development.
These data can be used to determine the rate of developmental failure in bilateral clubfoot and to reveal the possible involvement of
the unaff ected leg in unilateral clubfoot.
Keywords
atrophy; clubfoot; child, preschool; child; adolescent
Hrčak ID:
142181
URI
Publication date:
25.9.2014.
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