Dr. Ponseti and John Mitchell with the Ponseti® AFO
Dr. Ignacio Ponseti, an orthopedist from Spain, created the nonsurgical method of correcting clubfoot. His years of experience convinced him that surgical methods of repairing clubfoot actu- ally harmed children.
Over the years, as he worked at the University of Iowa, his research showed promise. What is now known as the Ponseti Method is applied in several phases of treatment (see “Clubfoot Journey” on page 9). This procedure is now considered the touchstone method for treating clubfoot patients around the world.
Today the Ponseti Method is successful in 95% of clubfoot cases worldwide, and since the turn of the century, surgery for clubfoot has declined by as much as 90%.
John Mitchell, inventor and president of MD Orthopaedics, began work at Ponseti’s urgent request for a “boot and bar” orthopedic to marry with Ponseti’s famed non-surgical procedure called the Ponseti Method.