How to treat children with orthopedic diseases; expert shares some important facts

By Team Newsable | First Published Jan 23, 2022, 7:00 AM IST

Read this to know more about how to deal with and handle orthopaedic diseases in children. Dr. Prashanth Inna, Consultant - Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Manipal Hospital gave some expert advice on the same; read on

Once kids jump into the water, it’s so difficult to get them out! All our travel plans go for a toss when the resort has a good swimming pool. Besides fun, how useful are water activities for kids? This article caters to more about the benefits for children with orthopaedic diseases.

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Fractures are common in kids. During the recovery phase after bone breaks, stiffness of the joints is troublesome. Encouraging swimming immediately after plaster removal helps. It allows movements without weight being applied on the bones thus avoiding inadvertent overloading and stress injuries during this sensitive period. By encouraging muscle movements with gravity eliminated (because of floatation), it ensures easier recovery to full movements.

Parents who have tried physiotherapy on their kids as advised by doctors would agree that it’s a herculean task. Swimming does it subconsciously acting as a stress buster even to the caregiver who is relieved of this responsibility!

Cerebral palsy and certain neurological problems affect the basic resistance to muscle movements, what is coined as “muscle tone” in medical terms. Water activities help both the abnormalities of tone, either reduced or excessive. Easier underwater movements encourage kids to be more “active” and gain strength, as otherwise they are bogged down by the muscle weakness that accompanies hypotonia or reduced tone. Increased tone or “hypertonia” is much more common in cerebral palsy; being underwater overcomes the gravitational resistance to joint movements thereby reducing abnormal excessive tone. The advantages were found to be so profound in these patients that an entire physiotherapy regimen based on water activities had gained widespread use.

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A word of caution is prudent. Because there is no direct weight being put on the bones, the gain in bone strength by water activities is a bit low. If the intention is to make bones “strong”, it is advisable to try overground running activities instead.

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In short, water activities are fun and therapeutic more so in kids with certain orthopaedic problems. So, get going and swim!!

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