A vertical talus or a congenital vertical talus is a rare deformity of the foot that is usually found at birth. It is an severe type of flatfoot which can impact one or the two feet. The talus bone is small bone within the ankle which points forward generally in a horizontal direction and is placed amongst the tibia and fibula bones of the leg and the calcaneus bone to create the ankle joint structure. In a foot that has a congenital vertical talus, the talus is directed down towards the floor in a vertical position. The implications with this is a stiff and rigid foot without any arch which is often known as a rocker bottom foot. The issue may occur by itself or may be part of a bigger syndrome such as arthrogryposis or spina bifida. There's also a less serious form of this problem called oblique talus that is halfway between the horizontal and vertical types of the deformity. This sort is a lot more flexible and only appears when standing.

 

The congenital vertical talus will likely be diagnosed at birth, but it can sometimes be picked up with ultrasound examination in the pregnancy. An evaluation of the feet will most likely present the issue and it is used to decide just how inflexible it is. There is certainly frequently no pain at first, however, if it is neglected the foot will continue to be deformed and with later walking it's going to commonly turn out to be painful. An x-ray can certainly pick up the talus in a increased vertical position. Some surgeons look at a congenital vertical talus as a minor kind of a clubfoot.

Normally, some surgical procedures are usually needed to manage the congenital vertical talus disability. Nevertheless, the orthopaedic doctor may want to use a amount of stretching out or bracing in an attempt to improve the flexibility and position of the foot. While in just a few cases will this do away with the need for surgical procedures completely it is more likely to decrease the amount and extent of surgical procedures that is required and result in a much better final result from surgery. Bracing is required over a number of appointments and changed weekly to maintain moving the foot right into a much more fixed position. If there is too little of an improvement using this strategy then surgery will likely be needed. The extent of the surgery for a congenital vertical talus may depend on how much the casting altered the foot and exactly how inflexible the disability is. If the foot is rigidly misshaped, then the surgical treatment will have to be much more considerable and is usually performed before one year old. The entire reason for the surgery is to improve the positioning of the bones inside the foot. To accomplish this generally needs several tendons and ligaments to become lengthened allowing the bones of the foot to be relocated. These bones will be held in place using screws and put within a cast. These bone pins commonly get taken out after four to six weeks. A special shoe or brace may need to be worn for a period of time following that to retain the correction.