Pedia­tric Ortho­pe­dics

The tre­at­ment con­cept of the “Pedia­tric Ortho­pe­dics Pro­ject” is mul­ti­di­men­sio­nal:

1. Ortho­pe­dic sur­gery
Neces­sa­ry ope­ra­ti­ons to cor­rect axi­al defor­mi­ties, ten­don shor­tening or sta­bi­liza­ti­ons are per­for­med by spe­cia­li­zed pedia­tric ortho­pe­dic teams at Hali­bet Hos­pi­tal. The often important fol­low-up tre­at­ment with phy­sio­the­ra­py and ortho­pe­dic tech­no­lo­gy is in turn cover­ed by POCA and is inten­ded to ensu­re the suc­cess of the ope­ra­ti­on even after the sur­gi­cal team has left.

2. Club­foot tre­at­ment
One sub­field of pedia­tric ortho­pe­dics is the tre­at­ment of club­foot. This foot defor­mi­ty can be suc­cessful­ly trea­ted in infan­cy through a tar­ge­ted tre­at­ment con­cept (Pon­seti) con­sis­ting of a small ten­don release and a spe­cial cas­ting tech­ni­que, ther­eby ensu­ring the child’s abili­ty to walk. Sin­ce 2005, a club­foot cli­nic initia­ted by pro­ject lead Dr. Kat­ja von dem Busche has been in place, through which num­e­rous child­ren have alre­a­dy lear­ned to walk suc­cessful­ly. The pro­ject bene­fits from its direct pro­xi­mi­ty to phy­sio­the­ra­py and ortho­pe­dic tech­no­lo­gy.

3. Phy­sio­the­ra­py
It is important to assem­ble a phy­sio­the­ra­py team at POCA that is enab­led to car­ry out inde­pen­dent tre­at­ment mea­su­res through tar­ge­ted ins­truc­tion by ARCHEMED phy­sio­the­ra­pists, while also trai­ning and sup­port­ing the affec­ted par­ents. Espe­ci­al­ly for child­ren with intellec­tu­al disa­bi­li­ties, coope­ra­ti­on with the Social Pedia­trics team and the Eri­tre­an asso­cia­ti­on NAID­DE is of ine­sti­ma­ble value for pro­vi­ding good care to this pati­ent group.

4. Ortho­pe­dic tech­no­lo­gy
Pro­vi­ding child­ren with sta­bi­li­zing or cor­rec­ti­ve aids is an important buil­ding block in the pedia­tric ortho­pe­dic care con­cept. For this pur­po­se, aids are pro­du­ced and fit­ted in a small work­shop at POCA, and Eri­tre­an ortho­pe­dic tech­ni­ci­ans are trai­ned. Often, with litt­le effort in the right place, a mal­de­ve­lo­p­ment can be cor­rec­ted and a later lifel­ong disa­bi­li­ty avo­ided.

Pro­ject Manage­ment

Ortho­pe­dic Sur­gery: Eli­sa Kühn, OTA, Neckar­ge­münd
Club­foot Tre­at­ment: Dr. Kat­ja von dem Busche, pedia­tric sur­ge­on, Ber­lin
Phy­sio­the­ra­py: Ange­la Schul­ze-Wie­hen­brauck, pedia­tric phy­sio­the­ra­pist, Soest
Ortho­pe­dic Tech­no­lo­gy: Fried­rich Jahns, mas­ter ortho­pe­dic tech­ni­ci­an, Bad Essen