Hospital for Joint Disease in NYC question

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Our was treated by Dr. Gail Chorney, who is also with Hospital for

Joint Diseases in NYC. was born with bilateral clubfeet in December

of 1998. We used the French physiotherapy method for 18 months and

ultimately needed just one surgery. (We were unaware of the Ponseti method

until he was a little over a year and had been using the French Phys method

since he was 3 hours old. I think it might have been too late to employ the

Ponseti method, which we first heard of here actually.)

I believe that Dr. Chorney is also associated with Drs. Lehman, Scher and

Feldman, although you would have to verify whether or not she is trained in

the Ponseti method. Our experience with her has been nothing short of

wonderful. She took over his case when he was 18 months (we wish we found

her sooner - we were using a doctor here on Long Island until then...) and

her bedside manner is only surpassed by her skill. She was newly trained in

the French Phys method at the time. She's been very, very supportive of our

efforts with and the French phys method and the success of our efforts

with him. She's convinced it saved him possibly numerous surgeries and has

documented that. She was also extremely helpful when we had to battle the

insurance company for physical therapy after 's recovery from the

surgery (it helped him when he was recovering and learning to walk).

has done very well. In fact, he just had his annual checkup and now,

at 5 1/2 years old, is, Thank God, showing absolutely no signs of relapse.

Dr. Chorney believes that the chance of relapse is gettting lower. It was

so much fun watching her with at the last exam. After having him walk

for her, standing on tiptoes and walking on his heels, she was checking out

his foot reflexes. Now couldn't bear to walk barefoot for a long,

long time, he had taping and bracing for so long, and anyone playing with

his feet would have had a tough time of it. (He'd pull his whole leg away,

it was that sensitive.) But here, we watched Dr. Chorney playing with him,

tickling the soles of his feet, and he let her! It was hard to measure who

had more fun, the doctor whose skill helped our little boy so much, his

thrilled parents, or our little guy. His next appointment is next summer.

's come a long, long way. He's one energetic little guy and unless you

knew him during his earliest years, you would never know he ever had a

problem at all. He easily caught up on all physical activity, with the only

lag being in using the stairs, probably in part because we have a ranch

style house and he didn't get a lot of practice, but he's doing just fine

now even with that. And you should see him run!! We tell him the story of

his journey with his feet now, but it's apparent that he doesn't remember

it, except from the stories we tell him. He always remembers, though, to

thank Dr. Chorney, and knows her as " the doctor who helped my feet be

okay " ...

A note about NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases in general. We found the staff

to be wonderful. The approach is very holistic (as far as traditional

medicine goes) and very child friendly. They really went out of their way

to make 's surgery as easy an experience for him and for us as possible

and were very conscious of the needs of a scared little boy and his nervous

parents. I pray that all goes well with your little one and that the

Ponseti method is a complete success, but whatever the outcome, just know

you are in very good hands with anyone connected with this wonderful

hospital.

Blessings,

Pam

> > Message: 18

> Date: Sun, 08 Aug 2004 13:57:55 -0000

>

> Subject: Re: Hospital for Joint Disease in NYC question

>

> ,

>

> I have met Dr.'s Lehman, Scher and Feldman a number of times. They

> have been using the Ponseti method since late 1999 and have been

> major advocates of the Ponseti method.

>

> In 2001, Dr. Ponseti visited NYU where they named their Clubfoot

> treatment center after Dr. Ponseti. There are a number of parents on

> the internet who have gone to NYU.

>

> The Cotton Family put up an excellent web site showing their child

> being treated by Dr. Feldman at http://hometown.aol.com/vc11/

>

> They have done a number of studies on their use of the Ponseti method

> including an Abstract of an article by Lehman WB et al, titled, " A

> method for the early evaluation of the Ponseti (Iowa) technique for

> the treatment of idiopathic clubfoot, " published in the Journal of

> Pediatric Orthopedics, March 2003.

> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

> cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12584499&dopt=Abstract

>

> Welcome to our group.

>

> and (3-17-99)

>

>

>

>

>

> > We live in NYC and are going to see Dr. Lehman and/or Dr. Scher the

> > week our son is born. They are head/co-head of the Clubfoot Center

> at

> > the Center for Children, Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan.

> > Anybody had any experience with them? They are listed on the Dr.

> > Ponseti's website. We went to meet them and liked them a lot. They

> > spent a lot of time with us, explained everything, introduced us to

> > some of the patients, allowed us to see the cast application and

> bar

> > tuning. I searched the board and haven't found any reference of

> them.

> > Any input would be appreciated.

> >

> > Thank you,

> >

> >