Charlie Matthews playing football with mum Sue (left) and Nikki Shack, a specialist paediatric physiotherapist at the Royal Free Hospital inset: Charlie Matthews as a baby

Published: 12 July 2012
by TOM FOOT

WHEN little Charlie Matthews kicks a football he has a rush of happiness – just like any other child.

But it might not have been this way for the three-year-old, who lives in Highgate, after he was born with talipes – also known as “club foot”.

Charlie was born – prematurely, at just 33 weeks – with a foot tilted inwards.

Without the work of experts from the Royal Free Hospital it could have stayed that way for the rest of his life. For months Charlie had to wear a large thigh-high boot for all but half an hour every day, and his treatment programme still has two years to run.

But his speedy progress meant he could go on his first family holiday to Spain where he walked around five miles a day.

His trek, almost 25 miles in total, astonished his proud mum Sue.

The 41-year-old said: “I’ve always liked walking holidays and I found one where I could walk and Charlie could sit on a donkey, as I thought that would be easier for him.

“But when we got there he refused to sit on the donkey and walked alongside me for the entire trip. We walked an average of 8km (almost five miles) a day for five days.

“I think it’s amazing for any three-year-old to be walking 8km a day, so it’s even more amazing that Charlie did it. On the last day we walked 13km and, although I carried him for the last bit, he did most of it. He was just incredible.”

Club foot is a condition which affects the foot and calf muscles. It happens because the tendons on the inside of the leg have shortened, the bones are abnormally shaped and the achilles tendon has tightened.

The treatment for it is called the Ponseti method, focusing on weekly physiotherapy sessions that manipulate and gradually correct the bend in the foot.

Charlie wore a plaster-cast from his toes to his hip that was changed weekly according to the progress he made.

He was then given special boots attached to a brace that held his feet in the new corrected position 23 hours a day.

Sue said: “It’s easy to be complacent about it because to look at him now you can’t see anything wrong with his foot.

“I think it’s fantastic that this treatment is available. If he hadn’t had this treatment he would have needed an operation later in life which would have been far more upsetting.”

The club foot service at the Royal Free treats 70 to 80 patients a year from across London and the Home Counties.

The team – two specialist physios and an orthopaedic consultant – also counsel expectant mums who have been told that their baby will be born with a club foot to help reduce any worry or anxiety.

Paediatric physio Nikki Shack, who treated Charlie, said: “If left uncorrected, club foot can be quite a debilitating condition. The Ponseti method of treatment gives patients excellent long-term outcomes and replaces the need for complex surgery in the majority of patients.

She added: “Charlie’s story shows what a difference the treatment makes, and the fact that he walked 40km on holiday is a fantastic achievement.

“We’re really pleased that our service has made a difference to his life.”