Symptomatic flatfoot in cerebral palsy

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the current literature and best practices in the evaluation and treatment of symptomatic flatfoot in cerebral palsy.

While techniques to reconstruct the neuromuscular flatfoot and reestablish bony levers have remained similar over time, the concept of surgical dosing has helped guide appropriate interventions based on the magnitude of disease and functional level of the child. Moreover, the utilization of multisegment foot modeling in motion analysis has allowed quantitative description of such deformities and their impact on gait.

Future research should focus on refining operative indications and interventions with larger, multicenter, prospective cohorts to provide more robust evidence in surgical decision making. Long-term data are needed to confirm and compare efficacy of procedures. Radiographic data alone are not sufficient for describing functional foot position. Gait analysis with foot modeling and pedobarography along with patient-centered subjective outcomes will be needed in such investigations to make conclusive recommendations.