The specialist in Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery, Dr. Rafael Casielles, is the traumatologist who has achieved that more than a thousand children can walk normally despite being born with a malformation called clubfoot. However, Dr. Casielles went to the United States in the early 1990s to study a technique that corrected these problems without the need for surgery. Subsequently, Dr. Casielles introduced this same technique in the Hospital Materno Infantil, being a pioneer in Spain and Europe.
Raised in Malaga, where he took his first steps in Medicine, he did his residency at the Carlos Haya Hospital and later at the Hospital de Ronda. Dr. Casielles made his career at the Hospital Materno Infantil until 1992, when he went to Iowa to learn under the guidance of Dr. Ignacio Ponseti how to treat Zambo foot, a malformation that occurs in one in a thousand births and causes the foot to be shortened and turned inward.
The Ponseti method
The Ponseti method was a breakthrough in the treatment of this pathology and was introduced at the Materno Infantil, first treated with a plaster cast. After a couple of months, the child has to wear a plaster cast and special boots, after having previously cut the Achilles tendon. One year later, the child can walk and run normally.
However, Dr. Casielles did not establish this method only in Spain and Europe, but decided to collaborate with different NGOs, such as the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in India in 2004, this being his first experience. Although it was not the last, as over the years Dr. Casielles visited countries such as Madagascar, Guinea Bissau or Palestine.