My story almost never even had a beginning, it could have been very close to just being an end. A mix up with the months of my due date all the way back in 1991 led to me being born on the 20th of September rather than my early August due date. I ended up being born to an emergency C-section and was very lucky to have been born at all and not to have killed my mum on the way. It was unclear whether it was the extra 6 weeks in the womb that caused my bilateral talipes (two clubbed feet) or if it had been passed on genetically from my mum as she had been born with talipes in one leg. I ended u ..read more

In the summer of 2020, Jay started getting pains in his leg after playing out with his friends, he was developing a limp so we knew something wasn’t right. After discussions about growing pains and possible Leukaemia we took jay to Alder Hey. He was lucky that Professor Perry was on duty that Sunday evening, this was when we found out Jay had Perthes Disease.  Learning about this rare condition was very hard, the information online is horrific and the information out there is very conflicting, most of it was based on American treatments and all were quite dated. We were told Jay would n ..read more

When Fred was 3 he started complaining of pains in his left leg, at first we thought he’d pulled a muscle. He was a typical 3-year-old boy running and jumping off everything. He kept complaining, sometimes of pain in his left knee, and sometimes he had a limp.  We had several trips to the doctors, drop-in and Alder Hey. After about 3 months of being mis-diagnosed with a hip infection, irritable hip, he was diagnosed with Perthes Disease. We were told it was so severe he would need an operation straight away as his movement was so bad. They put us on the waiting list at Alder Hey and tol ..read more

The most levelling realisation as a parent is that everybody, every child, has something going on at some point. For me, I was born with two clubbed feet in 1978. It wasn’t a total surprise when I arrived. There were no scans of course, but my mother and her sister (and latterly her daughter) both had bilateral talipes. However, that’s it; my maternal uncle, brother, sister and my other four cousins were all unaffected. We know of no one from further back in the family tree, neither my two children nor my maternal cousins’ children have inherited it. My feet and ankles were strapped with spl ..read more

“I’ve struggled with hip pain for as long as I can remember. I have loved all sports since being tiny and had a real passion for ballet from the age of 4.  When I was a child/young teen the hip pain I was experiencing was always put down to growing pains.  Into my early 20s the pain became worse but again I thought that it was still growing pains or perhaps I’d overworked myself at the gym. It was in my mid 20s when I was diagnosed with hypermobility giving me a sense of relief in that finally I knew why so many of my joints were so painful. I tweaked the way I did my workouts in t ..read more

We are thrilled to announce our new ambassador, Maggie Alphonsi MBE. Maggie is the face of international women’s rugby, having played rugby for England an impressive 74 times and even won the World Cup. Today she commentates for ITV, BT Sport, Sky Sports and the BBC and is a columnist for the Telegraph. 1000 Foot Challenge We invite you and your family to pledge to walk, run, cycle, scoot, climb or even row a boat for 1000 feet to support Clubfoot Awareness Month this June. Find out more New Ambassador - Maggie Alphonsi MBE 1000 Foot Challenge The post Announcing our new ambassador ..read more

Joshua was born naturally (but had to be induced by breaking my waters due to being late) with Hip Dysplasia and congenital dislocation of the knees (his legs were completely straight up by his ears) as well as having bilateral talipes.  We had absolutely no idea what was wrong with him and neither did the midwives.  We were left in the labour room for 6 hours Googling what could be wrong.  They kept talking about his Hip Dysplasia and I kept telling them to focus on his knees or lack of! We were referred to Oxford Nuffield Hospital where, at 5 days old, his legs were cast at ..read more

Jacob developed Perthes Disease at 6 years old when he noticed sudden pain in his right hip and began to limp. This is Jacob’s Perthes story: Our local hospital was not very informed on the disease, but we were fortunate enough to be recommended to Professor Roposch at Great Ormond Street. Jacob also later developed Perthes in his left hip; he spent periods of time on traction in hospital and he had 3 surgeries over the following years, his last being in 2017. Although it was very difficult to have to try and limit a child’s activity at a young age – Jacob was an excellent footballer and lov ..read more

Written by Loredana Guetg-Wyatt, CEO of Steps Charity Worldwide for Nursing in Practice Children quite often turn up at the school nurse’s office, or are brought to the local GP practice, with pain that isn’t easy to explain. If they’re particularly active children – and especially if they’re smaller than most of their peers – the fairly obvious conclusion is that they’ve probably done some not very important damage, and that the best approach is a ‘wait and see’ one. And obviously, this is usually right. However, repeated leg pains can signal a condition that is rare ..read more

Willow was born with Bilateral Knee Dislocation and Bilateral Congenital Talipes Equinovarus also known as talipes or clubfoot. She is a very rare case; being 1 in 100,000 for her knees and 1 in 1000 for her CTEV. She’s been through months of casting throughout her early years, weekly hospital visits, which have now turned into 6 monthly check ups/fitting for new splints. She had bilateral tendon release on both knees under General anesthetic at 3months old, and has had two tenotomies on both feet/ankles. We initially were under Southampton, but I made Willow get referred over to Chelsea and W ..read more