Helping Little Feet Walk
Stride & Strive was founded by Dr. Matthew Dobbs, one of the world's leading experts in clubfoot and a pediatric orthopedic surgeon trusted by families in all 50 states and over 100 countries. For more than 25 years, he has helped children take their first steps and taught doctors in over 50 countries to do the same.
Together, we are looking to turn one surgeon's life's work into a movement helping children everywhere take their first steps. Stride & Strive is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit, built to support a growing need: training doctors, funding research, and helping children take their first steps.
Helping Kids Take Their First STeps
Clubfoot is the most common birth defect of the bones and muscles, and it can be fully corrected if a child can reach a trained doctor.
Understanding the Need
Clubfoot impacts 1 in 750 children worldwide.
80–90% are born in low- and middle-income countries, where care is hard to reach.
Only about 1 in 5 children with clubfoot in these countries gets treatment.
Over 1 million children can't walk properly because their clubfoot was never treated.
When clubfoot is caught and treated early, children grow up healthy and active. The difference is access to care and that's what we're changing.
Helping A Wide Range of Conditions
Stride & Strive is best known for clubfoot, but we’re able to help children with many orthopedic conditions.
Clubfoot: One or both feet turn inward and downward at birth. Gentle casting and bracing correct it in most children.
Vertical talus: A rare, rigid flatfoot present at birth. Dr. Dobbs's own method treats it without major surgery.
Cerebral palsy: A condition that makes muscles tight and stiff. Minimally invasive care helps children walk sooner and better.
Torticollis: A tight neck muscle in infants, usually treated without surgery.
Congenital knee dislocation: A knee that bends backward at birth, corrected with gentle casting.
Spina bifida: A condition that affects a child’s ability to move their feet and legs
Genetic conditions with associated foot, knee, and hip conditions
Whatever the condition, our goal is the same: helping every child walk, run, and play.
Stride & Strive has identified three key areas to improve access and treatment.
HoW We Help Children Walk
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Training the next generation of pediatric orthopedic doctors internationally.
Impact: One trained surgeon can teach many more, so expert care reaches children far beyond a single clinic.
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Funding research uncovers why conditions like clubfoot happen, and turns that knowledge into better care.
More specifically, Dr. Dobbs’s research has identified genetic pathways behind clubfoot and vertical talus. That discovery has led to:
Better treatment for the most difficult types of clubfoot
A gentle, non-surgical approach to vertical talus, based on the Ponseti method
A dynamic brace that builds strength and is easier for children to wear
A classification system that lets doctors tailor treatment to each child, often shortening time in a brace
Impact: Research leads to gentler treatments, fewer and smaller surgeries, and less time in braces, so children can get back to being kids quicker.
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Helping children with foot and leg conditions walk.
Impact: A child who can walk can play, go to school, and grow up with more independence.
Meet Dr. Matthew Dobbs
For more than 25 years, Dr. Matthew Dobbs has helped children born with clubfoot and other foot and leg conditions take their first steps. Families from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, across six continents, have brought their children to him. Today he leads the Dobbs Clubfoot Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He is known around the world as a leading expert in clubfoot. To the families he treats, he is simply the doctor who helped their child walk, run, and play.
Why This Is Personal
Dr. Dobbs learned early in his career that most children don’t need major surgery. Training under Professor Ignacio Ponseti, who created the gentle, non-surgical Ponseti method for clubfoot, he saw the impact of non-invasive techniques for clubfoot patients.
That is why he has spent his career making expert care more accessible. His “Train the Trainers” program brings leading surgeons from other countries to learn from him. They return to their home countries and teach others, amplifying one visit into care for an entire country. He has now brought the Ponseti method to surgeons in more than 50 countries.
Dr. Dobbs is just as committed to research, because every better treatment means fewer surgeries and better lives for children.