Bone lengthening: bridging joints, soft tissue releases, physiotherapy.
expert_opinion · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27826903.
- Also identified by PMC identifier 5145833.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
When we lengthen a bone in a child, the parents and the family circle are often obsessed by the amount a lengthening obtained. However, for the surgeon, lengthen a bone is quite pretty easy, but dealing with the joints above and below the lengthening area can be very challenging. Indeed, during the lengthening process, muscles and tendons will be progressively stretched, leading to potential joint contracture or even dislocation. The objective of the surgeon will be to avoid this situation. The first mean at disposal is the physiotherapy in order to help the joints to be more supple and to maintain their range of motion. The second mean is the soft tissue release before the surgery, during the lengthening process, or after the hardware removal when the capacities of physiotherapy are overdone. As a last resort, it can be helpful to bridge the joint to protect it during the lengthening.