„Pazim kako gazim“ — free foot screenings for preschool children
10 April 2014
„Pazim kako gazim“ („Mind how I tread“) is a project our club has run since 2011. Every year it delivers a large number of free foot screenings for preschool children in Pančevo and the surrounding villages.
Why feet
In one of those years 672 children were examined, and more than 40% of them were found to have foot deformities of varying severity. Such deformities can complicate the development of a child's motor system and, later, cause problems with the spine, knees and hips.
The foot consists of 26 bones, 114 ligaments, 20 muscles and 32 joints. Its arches are most likely to drop in three periods: when a child starts walking, at the start of kindergarten and school, and in puberty during rapid growth and weight gain. That is exactly why screening preschoolers is so useful — at that age the problem is found while it can still be corrected.
What the examination involves
Screenings use computerised digital podography, which combines computer technology with medical diagnostics and identifies with high precision the cases that need treatment. Every podogram stays in a database, so a follow-up six months later shows precisely whether there has been improvement.
Treatment consists of individual dynamic corrective insoles and a set of corrective exercises. In 95% of cases the arch gradually improves — roughly by one degree every six to eight months, sometimes to full normalisation.
The exercises parents take home
As part of the project the club produced a CD of foot exercises, handed out free at every screening. The material is also on the [club's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdBR4hZW3PGJPE2DL-u3H5A).
The exercises are deliberately built as play: the child grips a sponge or a toy with their feet while a parent tries to pull it away, gathers a handkerchief with their toes, walks on their heels and on the outer edge of the foot, rolls a pencil under the sole. None of it looks like therapy — which is precisely why children agree to do it.
Together with other clubs
In April 2014 the screening was run as a joint action with Rotary Club Veliko Gradište. A project that works in one town transfers easily to another — all it takes is the equipment, a doctor and a few days.