Bewegingskenmerken om het risico op terugval bij kinderen met klompvoet te identificeren

The clubfoot deformity is one of the most common congenital orthopaedic "conditions". Worldwide approximately 176,000 children are born with unilateral or bilateral clubfoot every year. Nowadays, the Ponseti method is worldwide the golden standard for the initial treatment of the clubfoot. Despite the good initial outcome of the Ponseti treatment, reported relapse percentages following treatment with the Ponseti method range from 1.9% up to 67.3%. Children undergoing a relapse may encounter functional difficulties, thereby they will be limited in their participation in daily life activities. To avoid the need for additional surgical treatment, early identification of a possible relapse is essential. This highlights a present challenge in the management of clubfoot. Movement characteristics may facilitate the quantification of functional difficulties in children with clubfoot and specific characteristics may function as an indicator to distinguish relapsed clubfoot from non-relapsed clubfoot. Therefore, in this thesis movement characteristics of children with clubfoot during physical activities are explored to enhance our knowledge of functional differences between relapsed clubfoot, non-relapsed clubfoot and typically developing children. The studies upon which this thesis is based specifically focus on children with relapsed clubfoot, aiming to identify (kinematic) indicators for a relapse.