Super-Specialty Clinic
for Orthopaedic Ailments in
Infants, Children and Adolescents
Towards straighter bones and joints.
Orthopaedic problems may afflict children from infancy to the growing years and into adolescence.
Orthopaedic disability is an impairment which can affect a particular part of the body like the limb, the spine, etc, or affect the body as a whole. The various conditions that can lead to such disabilities can be classified broadly into congenital and acquired. It is important to remember that growth in a child has a huge role to play both in the natural progression of the condition and its manifestation, and treatment. Congenital conditions are those that are present at birth and can affect feet - like clubfeet, affect the hips - like congenital hip dislocations, can affect the spine - like scoliosis (abnormal lateral curvature), or can lead to deficient/ absence of part of limb - like radial club hands (absence of a radius bone of forearm) or even a whole limb.
Acquired conditions can again be broadly split into post-traumatic - like a progressive “knock-knee/ bow-leg” after damage to the growth plate of a long bone in a fracture for instance, post-infective - like a bone and joint infection leading to devastating results due to damage to the growth plate and causing limb-length discrepancy, or idiopathic (no ascertainable cause) leading to scoliosis in an adolescent or Perthes’ disease (sudden stoppage of blood supply to the hip joint).
A special mention needs to be made of an acquired neuromotor (pertaining to brain) impairment which is usually inflicted during birth, or within the first 2 years of life; Cerebral Palsy. This is a general term that refers to a number of non-progressive disorders which affect voluntary movement and posture that are caused by malfunctions or damage to a child’s brain. Children with cerebral palsy experience involuntary, and/ or uncoordinated movements. Four of the more common forms of cerebral palsy include Athetoid, Spastic, Ataxic, and Mixed. Cerebral palsy may also be classified according to the affected limbs. These classifications mainly include Diplegics (legs affected more than arms), Hemiplegics (Left or right side) or Quadriplegics (all 4 limbs affected). Most of these deformities worsen with growth. The management objective is to reduce motor disability as much as possible, thus working towards making the child more independent in the future.
In a majority of these ailments, a multi-disciplinary approach in management is the order of the day to achieve best results. Apart from doctors from other necessary medical/ surgical specialities, physiotherapists & occupational therapists (who work towards enhancing limb & joint function through various exercise manoeuvers) and orthotist & prosthetists (responsible for making splints or artificial limbs aiding in enhancing/ improving function) are essential in providing treatment. The earlier these conditions are recognized and treated appropriately, the better is the outcome.
Well, folks, this is just an attempt to make you all aware of the importance of the orthopaedic problems in a growing child. The list of problems is endless but fortunately a majority of these conditions aren’t that common. It has been our endeavor to highlight the commoner problems and sincerely hope that our message regarding this particular group of patients has got across. The message is loud and clear.
HELP US TO FIND THEM AND TREAT THEM EARLY.