Q: My son is only 6 days old. He has an orthopaedic problem in his left leg. The foot is little bent. So, the doctor told us to do some exercise and after a month he will do one x-ray and check the progress. My question is x-ray safe for a month old baby? Is there any side effect? Within how much time will his foot will be ok? Is this problem a serious one?

A:One of the possibilities as a cause of bent foot can be a Clubfoot. Here the foot and ankle is facing downwards and turned inwards. Again at 6 days of age, this very deformity may be just due to positional cause when the child was in the womb. It is always the feel of the foot that decides the diagnosis. If club foot seems to be the cause, I prefer commencing appropriate manipulation and holding on to the corrected foot with POP cast, as soon as possible.