As a Gillespie Approach practitioner and bodyworker, as soon as I found out that my son, Charlie, had a left unilateral clubfoot, I knew I was meant to help him. Everything that I read about clubfoot was discouraging, from the treatment plan of casting, tenotemy, and braces to the reoccurrence rate and future surgeries ahead of him.
When I was 36 weeks pregnant, I found out that Charlie had the cord wrapped around his neck three times and it was tight around his occiput. At 38 weeks, we induced, and, after three days, Charlie decided to show up with his triple nuchal chord and his left clubfoot. When he came out he was calm and quiet and I was concerned that he wasn’t crying loudly. I think that the triple nuchal chord had caused tension in the front of his throat.
I started bodywork on him immediately and worked on him every day thereafter. He was also diagnosed with a tongue tie, lip tie, and two buccal ties. We had those released at 10 days old but saw only a little bit of improvement in his tension afterward. I along with one of my colleagues did Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy on Charlie with his arching pattern and focused on his clubfoot. He had intense reflux with pain and had a lot of gas pain, too, which is common for clubfoot kids who are in casting.
We did seven weeks of casting to help his leg, and, when he came out of casting, I could feel the rigidity in his foot and ankle. His hamstrings were extremely tight, and his reflux was still terrible. I contacted Dr. Gillespie and knew I needed more support than what I could give Charlie by myself.
We saw Dr. Gillespie one day for four sessions, and it was a huge shift for Charlie. Dr. Gillespie found the strain in his left and right hips immediately and started releasing his feet and working his way up. You could see how the clubfoot was being pulled by the fascia going into Charlie’s pelvis. Afterward, he had a softness to his clubfoot and a greater range of dorsiflexion in his ankle. Dr. Gillespie also found a lot of strain and tension in his diaphragm going up into Charlie’s throat. After that release, Charlie became a happy spitter—no more pain.
I continue to work on Charlie every day, but I see no reason why his clubfoot should relapse. I wish the medical community could see that the relapses are happening because of the fascial strain and that casting and bracing is not enough to change the root cause of the clubfoot. After Gillespie Approach treatment, Charlie is a relaxed baby. He can now lay on his back comfortably and sleep in any position. He has a soft belly and does not have reflux pain anymore. In just a few hours, your baby can go from stress to comfort, and that really is the power of the Gillespie Approach. Taking the tension out at such a young age gives your child the life they should have—the one they were destined to have. I’m grateful that I can support Charlie and that he had that opportunity.
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