The traditional correction of foot and ankle deformity is basically through one surgery or multiple surgeries for soft tissue release, balancing, osteotomy and orthopedics, and the corrected deformity often needs to be maintained “statically” through various internal fixation materials combined with external fixation casts after the surgery. Because of the need for postoperative “static” maintenance, all orthopedic goals need to be accomplished surgically, rather than through molding in motion, and the Ilizarov technique follows the “law of tension-stress” and the “pulling tissue regeneration technique”. The “tension-stress law” and “pulling tissue regeneration technology” followed by Ilizarov technique breaks the traditional orthopedic pattern to a certain extent, especially in the correction of multiple deformities of the same limb, which shows incomparable advantages. Wang Chengwei, Department of Orthopaedics, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Xinjiang, China Aim: To investigate the clinical efficacy of Ilizarov technique in treating foot and ankle deformities combined with shortening of the affected limb. METHODS: The clinical data of 17 patients with lower limb and foot and ankle deformities treated with Ilizarov technology from August 2006 to October 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 10 cases were male and 7 cases were female, aged 20-37 years old, with an average of 27.5 years old. There were 5 patients with shortening of the affected limb combined with weight-bearing valgus deformity of the ankle due to sequelae of poliomyelitis, 7 patients with shortening of the affected limb combined with congenital clubfoot, 3 patients with shortening of the affected limb combined with high arched foot, and 2 patients with shortening of the affected limb combined with Achilles tendon contracture and supinated toe deformity. All patients were fitted with Ilizarov combined external fixation bracket after limited surgery to reconstruct the soft tissue balance of the foot and ankle or osteotomy to correct the deformity, and at the same time, lengthening of the tibia was done. RESULTS: Seventeen patients wore the Ilizarov brace for 16-44 weeks, the foot and ankle orthopedic braces were removed individually after 3-6 months of satisfactory orthopedics and true osseointegration, and the bone lengthening braces were continued to be worn as needed. All patients were followed up for 6-48 months with 2-6 cm lengthening of the affected limb, satisfactory bone mineralization of the lengthening segment, satisfactory foot and ankle orthopedics, and foot and ankle function with reference to the AOFAS score of 43±5.1 preoperatively and 76±7.2 postoperatively.CONCLUSION: In the treatment of foot and ankle deformities combined with shortening of the lower limb due to a variety of causes, the flexible combination of instruments in the Ilizarov technique allows simultaneous completion of The flexible instrumentation combination of Ilizarov technique can simultaneously accomplish multi-directional deformity correction, and the implementation of bone lengthening while correcting the deformity has significant superiority. Keywords: foot and ankle; deformity; bone lengthening; external fixation; Ilizarov technique