Child's short leg iron for weak ankles, with shoe attached, from the Lord Mayor Treloar Orthopaedic Hospital, Alton, Hampshire, England, 1960-1980

Attached to a shoe, the well padded short leg iron is like a splint worn to treat weak ankle joints. The leg iron was used at the Lord Mayor Treloar Orthopaedic Hospital in Alton, Hampshire, England. Founded in 1908, the hospital originally specialised in treating children with orthopaedic conditions, most notably those caused by tuberculosis and polio, although weak ankles could have been the result of a disease such as rickets.