{"id":632,"date":"2020-10-12T15:35:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T20:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/runningfromrunning.com\/?p=632"},"modified":"2021-01-08T14:50:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T20:50:18","slug":"hip-surgery-101-spica-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runningfromrunning.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/12\/hip-surgery-101-spica-cast\/","title":{"rendered":"Hip Surgery 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hip Surgery 101. I get questions often about what exactly Hayes is having done on his hips. So, I’m going to try and explain from a parent’s perspective what hip surgery actually entails and what we have learned along the way. Including some post-op tips, what to look for and what to expect for getting through the 6-8 weeks of the spica cast phase. Check out previous Hospital Life<\/a> post and Tips to Prepare for Hospital Life<\/a> for more information too.<\/p>\n

Hayes is on round two of hip surgery. In 2017 he had bilateral (both right and left side) femoral osteotomies — hold tight, I’ll explain what the heck I’m talking about. The main reason for needing the initial surgery was to alleviate pain due to hip dislocation or subluxation. Basically the head of the thighbone (femur) is coming in and out of its socket in the hip<\/em> bone (pelvis). You might question how his hips became dislocated when he doesn’t walk, and that’s a fair question. It is attributed to his Cerebral Palsy (CP). Cerebral Palsy (more info here)<\/a> is caused by injury or damage to the developing brain and is unique to each individual, but causes abnormal muscle movement and coordination. Therefore, his muscle tone, i.e. muscle activity at a passive or involuntary state, is abnormal. Muscle tone can be very “high<\/em>” or hyper<\/em> and tense and it can be “low<\/em>” or hypo<\/em> and weak, or both — which is what Hayes has. This abnormal tone puts stress on the hip joint affecting bone development and stability issues leading to displacement. Because the underlying problem is the CP and atypical muscle tone, there is always possibility of repeat surgery with growth. It is a neuromuscular hip dislocation<\/em>, meaning caused by abnormal pull of spastic hip muscles, not injury or trauma. So the key is to try and manage the muscle tone and spasms and that’s a whole other ball game.<\/p>\n

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Definitions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Please reference International Hip Dysplasia Insitute (here)<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Osteotomy<\/b> is a surgical procedure that involves cutting and reshaping of a bone to shift into better alignment.<\/p>\n

Pelvic osteotomy<\/b> involves reshaping a shallow hip socket so that it accommodates the ball of the hip joint. This is done to correct a hip socket that is too shallow or misshapen.\u00a0Pelvic Oseotomy BCChildren’s<\/a><\/p>\n

\"pelvic
Pelvic Osteotomy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Femoral osteotomy <\/strong>involves reshaping and usually shortening the upper end of the thigh bone, the femur, to better align into the hip socket.<\/p>\n

\"femoral<\/a>
Femoral Osteotomy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Open Reduction, Pelvic Osteotomy, Femoral Shortening and Varus Osteotomy. <\/strong>Open Reduction<\/em> is where the broken bone is exposed by surgery and moving the tissue around it. This is the main combination of procedures Hayes had done — triple pelvic osteotomy.<\/p>\n

\"pelvic<\/p>\n