History
MiracleFeet partnered with world class partners to develop the MiracleFeet Brace in response to demand from practitioners caring for children with clubfoot for an affordable, high quality brace.
With a renowned design school and leading brands, we made a high-quality, affordable clubfoot brace a reality.
Background
Bracing is a critical part of Ponseti treatment. Braces are worn for 4-5 years primarily during sleeping hours, by children once their feet have been corrected using serial casts and a tenotomy (in 80% of cases). Poor brace compliance can lead to relapses.
While there are a number of existing braces available (Mitchell, Dobbs, Dennis-Browne, Steenbeek) none meet the needs of low resource settings very well. Existing braces on the market were prohibitively expensive, difficult to put on, and often uncomfortable for the child to wear, which all contributed to low-compliance rates. Feedback from MiracleFeet’s international partners was clear: the lack of an easy-to-use, affordable brace was the single biggest impediment to scaling treatment in their countries.
Stanford d.School partners with MiracleFeet
MiracleFeet decided it should be possible to develop a high quality, easy-to-use brace at costs that would make it affordable to distribute at scale in low resource countries. In 2012, MiracleFeet Co-Founder and CEO, Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld approached the faculty of the “Design for Extreme Affordability” course at the Stanford School of Design, asking if they would consider partnering with her non-profit to design a clubfoot brace. They seized the challenge.
After two years of research, designs, and prototypes, the MiracleFeet Brace became a reality.
The Stanford student teams, and corporate partners, Suncast and Clarks Shoes, launched the sleek, high-quality, award-winning device, which is inexpensive to produce, but comes with all the functionality of the $350-$1000 braces used in the U.S.
Additional design features of the MiracleFeet Brace include a wider, more stable base—allowing kids to stand while wearing it; detachable shoes, making it easier for parents to put on a moving toddler; and sturdy, colorful plastic—making the brace look more like a toy, than a medical device.
Through this two-year process, MiracleFeet secured valuable partnerships with Suncast and Clarks, organizations that donated hundreds of hours of expertise to the project. Suncast continues to manufacture the brace in its cutting-edge injection molded plastics factory in Batavia, IL. The shoes are produced in China and shipped to Suncast, who assembles the final products before they are shipped around the world. Miraclefeet currently distributes to its clinic partners free of charge and is looking for additional partners to distribute and/or purchase the MiracleFeet Brace.