Pediatric Orthopedics

What makes Ochsner an outstanding partner in your child’s orthopedic care? Several factors set our pediatric orthopedics program apart, including:

• Convenient, close-to-home care: Our pediatric orthopedics team strives to meet patients and families where they are. That’s why we have clinics in communities throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. We also offer virtual visits.

• Expertise in spine and hip conditions: Our team treats all orthopedic conditions in children and teenagers, and we’ve developed special expertise in treating spine and hip problems. We offer treatments for scoliosis, or abnormal curving of the spine. These treatments include a minimally invasive procedure called vertebral body tethering. Our Hip Preservation Center offers procedures for children with complex hip disorders, such as hip dysplasia, an improperly aligned hip joint.

• Complete care team: Your child’s treatment team may include a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well as additional specialists and subspecialists. A collaborative approach helps ensure we develop a treatment plan that best fits your child’s needs. This approach is the foundation of our clinics that care for conditions like spina bifida, cerebral palsy and neuromotor diseases, and bone health and bone dysplasia.

• Research to shape care for future generations: We participate in multicenter research studies, many of which focus on spine care. These studies may help answer some of the most pressing questions in pediatric orthopedics and shape future treatments.

• Start-to-finish support: Our pediatric orthopedics nurse navigator can answer your questions and coordinate referrals and appointments for your child. Certified Child Life Specialists can explain the details of care in child-friendly language.

• Spine conditions: Our pediatric orthopedics team has expertise in treating spine conditions in children and teens. These include all forms of scoliosis and other types of abnormal spine curvature. We also treat stress fractures in the spine and vertebrae that slip out of position.

• Hip conditions: We excel at treating hip conditions, including hip dysplasia, an abnormally shaped hip joint and damage to the joint due to a lack of blood supply.

• Foot conditions: We treat deformities of the feet, such as clubfoot and metatarsus adductus, a type of clubfoot.

• Hand conditions: Our team treats joined and extra fingers, as well as trigger thumb and trigger finger.

• Knee conditions: Common problems of the knee include tears of the soft tissues and cartilage.

• Leg conditions: These include limb deformities, limb discrepancies (when one leg is shorter than the other), knock knees and bowed legs.

• Neuromuscular conditions: These include spina bifida, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a group of inherited nerve disorders that affect the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

• Trauma and infections: Our team treats growth plate and bone fractures, as well as dislocations. We also treat osteomyelitis, a type of bone infection often caused by bacteria.

Our pediatric orthopedics team offers the full range of treatments, from nonsurgical therapies, such as casting and bracing, to routine and complex surgeries.

We see many patients with scoliosis and pediatric spine disorders. That’s why we offer more treatment options than just spinal fusion, which is a major surgery to straighten the spine. We’re a national leader in vertebral body tethering, a minimally invasive treatment that preserves the motion of the spine. Vertebral body tethering involves placing metal anchors on the outward-curving part of the spine, and those anchors are connected by a cord. Initially the cord gets a lot of correction, but with growth, the tether gradually straightens the spine. We see patients from around the country who are interested in this cutting-edge treatment.

Another option for certain children with abnormal spine curvature is ApiFix. Like vertebral body tethering, ApiFix is less invasive than spinal fusion, and it allows children to maintain spinal movement. An orthopedic surgeon attaches the ApiFix rod to the spine. As the patient grows, the rod expands to correct the curve of the spine.

Ochsner pediatric orthopedic surgeons also offer:

• Complex hip surgeries

• Foot surgeries

• Guided growth and lengthening for limb length discrepancies

• Guided growth and realignment for limb deformities

• Knee surgeries, including arthroscopy, ligament reconstruction and meniscus repair

• Treatment for neuromuscular conditions

• Procedures to treat trigger thumb and webbed and extra fingers

"Your unwavering commitment to research and seeking input from other physicians has been instrumental in providing the optimal treatment for my son." -- Richelle P., mother of patient at Ochsner Lafayette General Orthopedic Hospital. 

The main symptom is a spine that curves in the shape of the letters S or C. The first thing most people notice is a rotation of the ribs or lumbar spine. Waist asymmetry is also common. Sometimes people think one hip is higher than the other. Pain is usually uncommon when people initially see a doctor for scoliosis.

Not necessarily. Most patients do not need any treatment. Wearing a brace or seeing an orthopedic surgeon regularly for careful observation may be sufficient, depending on your child’s age, the degree of the curve and other factors. Detecting the curve early is important.

In babies, hip dysplasia can cause a clicking sound in the hips and legs that are different lengths. Older children and teenagers with hip dysplasia may walk with a limp or experience groin pain.