All children should be able to grow, play, and move without pain or limitation. But when a child is born with a bone that grows crooked, is injured, or has trouble with joints or muscles, it can impact not just physical health, but also confidence and development. That’s where pediatric orthopedic surgery comes in, a specialty of medicine that centers on diagnosing, treating, and managing musculoskeletal issues in children, from the tiniest newborns to teenagers. Like the newborn with clubfoot to the teenager who gets an ACL injury from sports, they are candidates for pediatric surgery.
What is Pediatric Orthopedic surgery?
Pediatric surgery is the branch of medicine that deals with the surgical treatment of children. It applies to diagnosis, treatment, and management of both congenital and acquired (i.e., developed or occurred) conditions, both traumatic injury and non-traumatic injury, and conditions generated by or during illness in childhood.
Moreover, pediatric orthopedic surgery is so much more than just the procedures; it’s changing kids’ and families’ lives. From fixing a child’s congenital defect to repairing an injury, this medical specialty influences a child’s life.
Treatment required pediatric surgery.
- Broken bones that cannot be repaired with a cast.
- Bone deformities like clubfoot, knock knees, etc.
- Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip
- Spinal surgery
- One leg is shorter than the other, etc.
How Does Pediatric Surgery Work?
The following is a step-by-step account to show how pediatric surgery works:
Consultation
If you see any deformity in your child’s bones, muscles, or joints that may worry you, then visit a Pediatric Orthopedic Hospital in Jaipur to have the best doctors available who are specially trained to treat bone and joint problems in children.
Diagnosis
- After the discussion, your physician begins with the diagnosis and collection of the outward clinical tests, such as observation of how the body of the infant walks, moves, or stands.
- What’s more, a few tests are done as well, including X-rays (for the bones), MRIs or CT scans (for joint or spine problems), and ultrasounds (especially for the babies). All of this diagnosis is to find a clear place to target, where we can plan the treatment.
Treatment plan
If the condition is not serious, then it can also be improved by braces, physical therapy, plaster casts, and special shoes. But if the surgery is needed, then the doctor will explain everything in detail to you.
On the day of surgery
The child is taken into the pediatric operating room, and then anesthesia is to be given so that the child does not feel any pain.
Once anesthesia is given, surgery starts, and it can involve
- Fixing of bones
- Correcting the bone shape
- Fixing of joints
- Shot the limb
- Spine surgery
- Releasing the tight muscles
And for all these treatments, treatment-specific tools and techniques are used, which are made just for the children so that growing bones and tissue can be protected.
After the surgery
- The children stay in the hospital for a few days. If the surgery is minor, then he can go home in a few hours, and if the surgery is major, then he should stay for 3-5 days.
- After that, before going home, the parents have to take care of the children, like the stitches, giving medicine on time, and supporting them when they want to move.
Home recovery
- The child needs to rest for a few days or weeks, and physical activity is also limited. Moreover, if your child uses braces or casts, then they should not be removed without asking the doctor.
- The doctor of the Orthopedic Hospital in Jaipur can advise you on physiotherapy, which helps to give strength to the children and also makes the recovery quicker.
- Moreover, some children are monitored long time if they have birth defects, spine issues, or long-term bone conditions; then follow-up is required for months or years.
Follow-up appointments
After you are done with the surgery and all other things, you need to follow up with your doctor. So that they can check how the bone is healing, remove stitches or bandages, and adjust the plan accordingly.
If you are planning orthopedic pediatric surgery, then it should be planned consciously. You cannot make an appointment with any of the doctors because it’s your child’s life. If you are thinking of any orthopedic pediatric surgery or want a consultation, then you can make an appointment with Dr. Pratul Jain, a leading joint replacement surgeon in Jaipur. He ensures that your child gets the best treatment and lives a quality life.
