Paediatric Orthopaedics

Best Paediatric Orthopaedics Hospital in Indore

Children are not simply smaller versions of adults. While this may seem self-evident, the clinical implications are substantial and require a distinct approach to diagnosis, treatment, and care. A child's bones contain active growth plates that are cartilaginous zones at the ends of long bones where longitudinal growth occurs. An injury or deformity that involves a growth plate does not behave the way a comparable injury in adult bone does. It can alter the growth trajectory of the entire limb if managed incorrectly. This is why paediatric orthopaedics exists as a distinct speciality rather than simply a smaller version of adult orthopaedic surgery.

The window for intervention matters as much as the intervention itself. A clubfoot corrected in the first weeks of life with the Ponseti method is a different clinical situation from the same foot presenting untreated at age five. Developmental dysplasia of the hip caught in the neonatal period often resolves with a harness. Missed and presenting at two years, it requires surgery. The speciality is built around understanding these windows and acting within them.

Types of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeries

Surgery in a child is not a first resort. The growing skeleton has a capacity for remodelling that adult bone does not, which means many conditions that would require surgical correction in an adult can be managed conservatively if caught early. When surgery is indicated, the approach is adapted to the child’s age and what the growth plates can tolerate.

Procedures performed at CARE CHL Hospitals include:

• Clubfoot correction: Ponseti serial casting and percutaneous Achilles tenotomy
• DDH: Closed or open reduction; acetabular osteotomy for older children
• Scoliosis correction: Posterior spinal fusion with pedicle screw instrumentation; growing rod systems for early-onset scoliosis
• Limb lengthening and deformity correction: Ilizarov and Taylor Spatial Frame external fixation
• Osteotomy for angular deformities: Genu valgum, genu varum, tibial torsion
• Fracture fixation: Including physeal fractures and supracondylar humeral fractures
• Soft tissue procedures for cerebral palsy and neuromuscular disorders
• Surgical management of osteomyelitis, septic arthritis and bone tumours.

Paediatric Orthopaedic Disorders Treated at CARE CHL Hospitals

The breadth of conditions managed reflects the full lifespan of childhood from the neonatal period through adolescence.

• Congenital: Clubfoot, developmental dysplasia of the hip, congenital vertical talus, torticollis, limb deficiencies, radial club hand and syndactyly.
• Developmental: Scoliosis, Perthes disease, slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), Blount’s disease, leg length discrepancy and flexible flatfoot that does not resolve with growth.
• Neuromuscular: Cerebral palsy including spasticity management, deformity correction and gait improvement; spina bifida; muscular dystrophy; spinal muscular atrophy.
• Infections and bone lesions: Acute and chronic osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, unicameral bone cysts, aneurysmal bone cysts and benign tumours such as osteoid osteoma.
• Trauma: Physeal fractures (Salter-Harris classification), supracondylar humeral fractures, forearm fractures, clavicle fractures and tibial fractures with remodelling potential.
• Sports and overuse: Osgood-Schlatter disease, Sever’s disease (calcaneal apophysitis), apophyseal avulsion fractures and stress fractures in adolescent athletes.

Treatment and Procedure for Paediatric Orthopaedic

Treatment selection at CARE CHL Hospitals depends on diagnosis, age, skeletal maturity and, importantly, the family's ability to sustain the treatment protocol. A Ponseti casting programme for clubfoot requires weekly attendance. A scoliosis brace requires 16 to 20 hours of wear per day. These are not passive treatments family engagement is part of the clinical plan.

• Ponseti method: Serial casting over six to eight weeks followed by a foot abduction brace. This is a global standard for clubfoot management, with long-term success rates above 90% when initiated early.
• Pavlik harness and spica casting for DDH: The Pavlik harness holds the hip in flexion and abduction to promote acetabular development in infants. It works in the majority of cases when started before six months of age. After that window, surgical reduction is increasingly necessary.
• Bracing for scoliosis: Curves between 25 and 45 degrees in a skeletally immature patient are braced. The goal is not correction but preventing progression until the spine stops growing. Surgery is reserved for curves above 45 to 50 degrees or those that progress despite bracing.
• Distraction osteogenesis for limb lengthening: The bone is cut and a frame applies gradual tension across the gap at 1 mm per day. The body fills in the gap with new bone. Slow, demanding and transformative for the right patient.
• Botulinum toxin for cerebral palsy: Injections into spastic muscle groups reduce tone for three to six months, creating a window where physiotherapy can establish better movement patterns. 

Advanced Paediatric Orthopaedic Technologies

Technology in paediatric orthopaedics is not just about capability it is about appropriateness. Systems designed for adults and scaled down do not serve children well. The implants, imaging protocols and monitoring systems at CARE CHL Hospitals are selected with the paediatric patient specifically in mind. We have:

• EOS low-dose imaging: Full-body weight-bearing X-rays using a fraction of the radiation of conventional systems. For a child with scoliosis who needs imaging every four to six months for years, this difference in cumulative radiation exposure matters clinically.
• Paediatric implant systems: Flexible elastic nails for shaft fractures, growth-friendly spinal rods that can be lengthened without open surgery, and small-diameter screws designed for paediatric bone dimensions.
• Intraoperative neuromonitoring: Continuous real-time monitoring of spinal cord function during scoliosis and spinal deformity surgery. Changes in signal immediately prompt the surgical team to reassess. It is a safety system, not an optional add-on.
• 3D preoperative planning: For osteotomies and complex deformity correction, three-dimensional planning enables precise calculation of correction angles before the child is in the operating theatre.

Conclusion

A child's musculoskeletal system is not static  it is growing, changing and responding to everything that happens to it. That is both the challenge and the opportunity in paediatric orthopaedics. The same growth that can allow a condition to worsen if ignored is what makes early intervention so effective. 

CARE CHL Hospitals, Indore provides paediatric orthopaedic care from initial diagnosis through long-term follow-up across the growth years. If your child has a musculoskeletal concern like one identified at birth, emerging during development or following an injury an early specialist assessment changes what is possible.

Why Choose CARE CHL Hospitals?

The distinction between a hospital that has an orthopaedic department and one that provides paediatric orthopaedic expertise is not subtle. Paediatric implants are sized differently. Anaesthesia protocols differ. Growth plate injuries require a different surgical philosophy from fracture fixation in adults. At CARE CHL Hospitals, Indore, the orthopaedic team treating children has training and experience specific to the growing skeleton, not simply experience treating adults applied to smaller patients.

Complex cases involving cerebral palsy, spinal deformity or congenital limb deficiencies are managed through a multidisciplinary team that includes neurology, paediatric medicine, physiotherapy and rehabilitation because these conditions rarely sit within a single speciality. Imaging uses paediatric-appropriate protocols and, where available, low-radiation systems designed for children who need monitoring over years rather than months. Families receive clear communication at every stage about what the diagnosis is, what the options are and what the realistic expectations should be.