Club foot. The deformed feet of a child with a form of talipes (club foot) called calcaneo cavus. This condition is a combination of talipes calcaneus, in which the foot is flexed and the patient walks on the heel, and talipes cavus, in which the arch of the foot is exaggerated. Talipes is a birth defect in which the foot is twisted out of shape, perhaps as a result of pressure on the feet during pregnancy. Treatment involves stretching the foot repeatedly into normal position and surgery to lengthen or move tendons.