Conditions treated by the Limb Reconstruction Unit

The Limb Reconstruction Unit specialises in assessing and treating rare or complex conditions affecting the upper and/or lower limbs.

The team specialises in the following conditions as well as many other less common ones.

• Blount's disease
• Congenital short femur (proximal femoral focal deficiency)
• Limb problems following trauma or infection such as meningitis
• Fibular hemimelia
• Tibial pseudarthrosis
• Multiple exostoses
• Skeletal dysplasias
• Deformities associated with syndromes

In order to treat conditions which affect the limbs, our team combines our skills to design a programme specifically designed for your child’s problems. Sometimes operations are required, but sometimes other techniques like physiotherapy, plaster casts or plastic splints (‘orthoses’) do the job. Often we recommend a combination of these techniques. Some conditions improve by themselves without needing treatment at all.

When operations are needed, we tailor the techniques to the particular child depending on the cause of the problem, their age, and the goals we are trying to achieve. Sometimes we operate to lengthen tendons which are short, or to release joints which have become too tight. Sometimes we straighten bones which have become bent and hold them straight while they heal in their new position. We also have techniques to ‘grow’ bone straight again, to grow new bone which is missing, and to lengthen bones which are short. Which technique we use depends on the individual case.

As children are growing and constantly changing, we frequently use these techniques in combination, and often we will make a plan for a series of operations at different ages. Planning is very important and in complicated cases we usually discuss the best way forward as a group at our regular case conferences. We often operate in teams, for example alongside plastic surgeons who can help with particular techniques that might be needed (skin grafting and microsurgery, for example).