Analysis and development of foot abduction brace for clubfoot treatment in maintenance phase

Congetinal talipes equinovarus (CTEV) or known as clubfoot is a deformity present at birth involving one foot or both. This deformity can be treated surgically and nonsurgically. Surgical operation is not preferred by patients as it causes severe pain after treatment. Therefore, non-surgical operation has become the major option to treat this deformity because it has been proven successfully by researchers. Nonsurgical treatment is divided into two phases which are corrective and maintenance phase. Corrective phase involves in correcting the physical look of the foot through Ponseti method. Maintenance phase involves in maintaining the foot from relapse by applying a foot abduction brace (FAB) for a certain period of time. Increasing the FAB efficiency is one of the major topics in the medical world. This research focuses on analysing the existing FAB and improved it with new development. Force analysis of the outsole shoes were conducted using computer aided design (CAD) software. The mechanical drawing is provided to illustrate the improved FAB modelling and as a guidance to fabricate the prototype. The force analysis has revealed that the factor of safety (FOS) of the existing and a new design is 1.7 and 1.6, respectively. On the other hand, the weight of previous design is reduced by 609.9 g. It was observed that the weight, cost and sturdiness of FAB can be improved by changing the material and dimension of the design.