Hi Andrew, It seems the club foot syndrome, if I may call it that, presents in different forms. Our family all had shortened Achilles tendons which resulted in either one foot or both feet being turned inwards. At the time my sister and I were treated not much was known about it. It was cut cut. This was 1948/51 and I remember have plaster casts for almost two years. We spent many months in the Hope Home Childrens Home in JHB. The result of all the operations is that our ankles were fused and to this day we cannot move our ankles. Such is life Regards Rod g Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: Andrew Rodger via <south-africa@rootsweb.com> Sender: south-africa-bounces@rootsweb.com Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2015 22:58:37 To: Irene de Villiers<furryboots@icehouse.net>; <south-africa@rootsweb.com> Reply-To: Andrew Rodger <rodgera@audioio.com>, south-africa@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [SOUTH-AFRICA] [ZA-EC] Mavis Hobbs I have found this discussion most interesting because we had a club-foot in our family: my brother, born in Cape Town in March 1939. Seeing this was before the War (and my mother was likewise born before WW1, in 1911), and it was her second pregnancy (I was born in September 1936, and my other two brothers in September 1942 in Cape Town and September 1946 in Mutare), none of us with any real nutritional deficiencies such as one might have found in the most affected countries in both wars, this must just have been some awkwardness in the boy's position. He was a very large baby and the birth was difficult and prolonged for that reason, but it doesn't seem likely to be the cause. My brother was fitted with corrective boots, which was probably painful for him (though he didn't complain as far as I can remember -- I can just remember him still wearing them, but he was out of them by the time my father returned from the War in late 1945), but was certainly painful for my mother, as he was a lively baby and kicked vigorously when laid on his back, to the great discomfort of her elbows! She later became somewhat arthritic in her later years, not least in her elbows, but lived to 91 without ever losing her vigour, though the last time I saw her, when I went over to SA for her 90th birthday, she didn't know who I was: a bit of a shock though I had been forewarned. My own kids had no such problems, so my wife's elbows are just fine into her late 70s, though mine are a bit wonky, along with much of the rest of me, but for quite other reasons. In passing, my brother-in-law used to do some work at the Orphanage close to the place in Mowbray, but that was much later, when it was for all races. Andrew Rodger rodgera@audioio.com On 06/04/2015, at 8:14 PM, Irene de Villiers via wrote: > > > On Apr 4, 2015, at 11:07 PM, rodg via wrote: > >> As far as I understand polio is an infection and club feet is an heredity condition. >> Which did young Mavis have? > > Dear Rod, > Polio is indeed a viral infection. > > But club foot is most often a condition of a crowded uterus. If the mother is malnourished or has a toxic diet or takes in toxins (eg smoking) or has a nutritional deficiency, the uterus is poorly fed and the amn iotic sac tends to be too small also (difficult to make fluid with malnutrition), the feet can become mispositioned in the womb due to crowding and the individual is born with a foot facing the wrong way called "clubfoot" though it is not a good description. If repaired before age two, it is a simple operation as there has been no significant pressure on the bones of the feet, in the wrong direction. > Later it becomes major surgery as bones succumb to pressure and walking on a foot in the wrong position aggravates the situation and forces incorrect bone growth. Sadly the need to help the foot u nwind to the correct position was not understood till about mic-20th century. > > The same issues occur more frequently in animals with multiple births but there too it is a matter of whether the uterus could expand easily or was undernourished or incorrectly nourished and failed to expand well and provide a suitable amniotic volume and cramped the infants. In kittens for example club feet are quite common in a large litter, but they often can come right in a matter of weeks with very little help. > > The homeopathic remedy caullophyllum 30C, given to the mother of any species during pregnancy, a few times like monthly for 6 months in humans, weekly for 6 weeks in cats, but not late in pregnancy will ensure flexibility and womb muscle strength, helping infants to stretch thanks to the excellent muscle tone and the uterus to expel the infant easily and painlessly at birth. Those who knew homeopathy (it has been around over 200 yrs) before the medical associations feared the competition and shut it down shortly after the 1918 flu epidemic (in which only 2% of people on homeopathy died but 98% of those using aspirin died), would not have seen club foot. > > Officially most doctors claim not to know why clubfoot happens in that they do not see or admit the correlation with nutritional factors, but they do recognize the association with toxic factors (go figure!). As a cat breeder and geneticist, I know this is the cause in cats and I agree with my friend who runs a childrens orthopedic hospital (Mowbray Cottage Hospital in Cape Town, which used to be for colored children only, where incidence was high) that nutrition is the single greatest predictive factor. She ran a program to turn that around and also to ensure early surgery for victims, with corporate donations, which was very successful in the 80s and 90s. I do not know if it is still going. I moved to USA in early 1998. > > To know whethere someone has club foot or polio, would need photos or a description. The difference is clear visually. Polio involves atrrophied limbs, not just a foot pointing the wrong way. > > Namaste, > Irene > -- > Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom. > P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220. > www.Furryboots.info > (Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy) > "Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it." > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOUTH-AFRICA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOUTH-AFRICA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message