http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/coleman_block_testThe Coleman Block test is a foot alignment test where the patient's foot is placed on a wood block, 2.5 to 4 cm thick, with the heel and lateral border of foot on the block and bearing full weight while the first, second, & 3rd metatarsals are allowed to hang freely into plantar flexion and pronation.
- Interpretation:
- test is based on premise that there is fixed flexion of 1st metatarsal;
- this test negates effect that forefoot (first metatarsal in plantar flexion) may have on the hindfoot in stance;
- if heel varus corrects while the patient is standing on the block, hindfoot is considered flexible;
- if subtalar joint is supple & correct w/ block test, then surgical procedures may be directed to correcting forefoot pronation, which is usually due to plantar flexion of 1st metatarsal;
- if hindfoot is rigid, then surgical correction of both forefoot & hindfoot are required
For this I am envisioning a small section of the PT Eval to ask about whether or not the heel varus corrects or not when on the blocks for each involved foot. Then there would be a small section in the report template that would get included if there was a Coleman block test performed. This section would included the interpretation and the picture of the posterior view of the hindfoot on the block.
