Calcaneal osteotomy in the management of flexible and nonflexible flatfoot deformity: a preliminary report.

Posterior and anterior types of calcaneal osteotomy have proved successful in properly selected cases at Lindell Hospital. The procedures described provide an alternative method of management of flatfoot deformity in some cases and offer the advantage of not interfering directly with subtalar joint motion. Our preliminary results with 20 calcaneal osteotomies of the posterior type have been excellent to this time. In the postadolescent patient, the posterior calcaneal osteotomy (type II) offers a rapid means of gaining some degree of stability in significantly pronated subtalar joints in properly selected cases. In the younger patient, when indicated, posterior calcaneal osteotomy of either type I or type II offers the advantage of not introducing biomaterials with possible long-term sequelae, and it offers the additional advantage of not interfering directly with subtalar joint motion.