Physical therapy, stretching, shoe inserts, or some combination of these will resolve their pain. Most kids with symptomatic flexible flatfoot don’t need surgery. When is surgery an option for flexible flatfoot? Mahan talks about the minimally invasive SESA surgery and which patients may benefit. Currently, Boston Children’s is one of the only hospitals in the U.S. Since then, she has used the SESA surgery to correct over thirty different patients’ flexible flatfoot. Susan Mahan, an orthopedic surgeon in the Lower Extremity Program at Boston Children’s, travelled to Italy in 2018 to learn the procedure from the surgeon who developed it. Compared to traditional flatfoot surgery, recovery from the SESA procedure is much quicker and less painful.ĭr. A minimally invasive procedure, subtalar extra-articular screw arthroereisis (SESA), has been practiced there for several decades and is now practiced at Boston Children’s Hospital as well. Susan Mahan travelled to Italy to learn the procedure from the surgeon who developed it.Ĭhildren in many parts of Europe, however, have another option.

Flat foot surgery