Excision of calcaneo-navicular bar for painful spasmodic flat foot.

In the adult a painful rigid flat foot with a calcaneo-navicular bar usually requires treatment by triple arthrodesis. In the adolescent also, long-standing deformity or adaptive joint changes may call for triple arthrodesis to alleviate pain. In the younger patient, however, without adaptivejoint changes, it is worth considering simple excision ofthe calcaneo-navicular bar. This has been practised but hitherto no appreciable series has been reported. in order to determine the indications for surgical treatment the results are reported in forty-one spasmodic flat feet in twenty-eight patients aged from ten to fourteen years with calcaneo-navicular bars operated on by the surgical staff of the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital between 1955 and 1960. The duration of observation varied from four to thirteen years, with an average of six years from operation (Table 1).