01/11/2025
⚠️ Think Twice Before Surgery
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A few years ago, a father brought his teenage son to see me.
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The boy was born with Marfan Syndrome, a condition that makes him taller and larger than most children his age. Alongside that, he also had severe flat feet.
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Hoping to help his son walk better, the father agreed to surgery on one foot, the right side; while leaving the left untouched, just in case.
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Unfortunately, even after a long recovery, the right foot remained flat. The surgery didn’t achieve what they hoped for.
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When I examined him, I explained that we couldn’t reverse what was done to the operated foot, but we could try training the left foot, the one that hadn’t been operated on.
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After about 30 minutes of targeted muscle retraining, the boy managed to lift and control his left foot arch on his own.
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His muscles were weak and his bones oversized due to Marfan Syndrome, so he couldn’t hold it long.
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Still, that brief moment was a powerful sign, that the body could respond naturally, without surgical intervention.
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Because of his special condition, we later decided not to continue correction training, keeping both feet flat was safer for him overall.
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But I’ll never forget the look in his father’s eyes — a mix of relief, sadness, and realization.
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Many orthopedic surgeons today rarely recommend flat foot surgery for growing children unless there’s severe pain or structural deformity that affects walking.
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That’s because:
1️⃣The success rate is unpredictable, especially in young, developing feet.
2️⃣Recovery is long and may require casts or limited movement for months.
3️⃣Once done, it’s irreversible, the bone structure is permanently altered.
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If your child has flat feet and you’re thinking about surgery, please pause and think twice.
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In most cases, flat feet can be improved safely through the right type of muscle and gait retraining, no surgery, no implants, just science and patience.
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At SpineCare Engineering, we’ve seen many children regain their natural arch through personalized training that helps their muscles “relearn” how to support the body properly.
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👣 Sometimes, the right solution isn’t to cut or replace — it’s to retrain and restore.
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