To Worry or Not to Worry?

Dr. Zaid Al Aubaidi, Consultant Pediatric Orthopedic & Pediatric Spine Surgeon, lists down the top Non-Disease Orthopedic Issues in Children

29th June 2017, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Every day, children are born with various orthopedic problems that can seriously affect their lives, if they are not treated well in time. Orthopedic conditions in children occur because their bodies including their bones, muscles and joints are still developing. These problems are primarily of the bone, joint, spine and limb development in the growing child. These problems can be congenital (i.e. present at birth), developmental (occurring spontaneously during growth) or traumatic.

Most parents are concerned about normal physiological conditions that are a part of the natural development in the growing skeleton. Dr. Zaid Al Aubaidi, Consultant Pediatric Orthopedic & Pediatric Spine Surgeon says” We call these conditions in children as non-disease or non-concerning conditions as these are not diseases but are physiological, normal conditions that you find in kids and I also sometimes refer them as “worried parent syndrome”. Parents are usually very concerned about such conditions. However, medical treatment is not needed as these aren’t diseases; they are conditions which are completely normal to have been seen in kids”

Dr. Zaid lists down these top non-disease orthopedic conditions in children:

• Flexible Flat Feet: This is a very common and normal condition in children. Parents are usually very concerned about this condition but this is very normal in children. First of all you need to be sure that it is the flexible flat feet and that there are neither shortening of tendons nor fixation of the foot. And if it is a flexible flat foot which is usually pain free, it doesn’t need any treatment.
• In Toeing: Kids usually walk with their feet/toes towards inside and this is called in-toeing. This is also a concerning condition which actually doesn’t need to be so because it’s a physiological condition and it depends on the development of the hips and lower extremities of the kids and usually it improves with time.
• Bowlegs: It is a condition in which the knees stay wide apart when a person stands with the feet and ankles together so legs look like a circle. Most kids when they are born have slight bowing and this continues till the age of a year and half and then it converts to Knock Knees.
• Knock Knees: Most of the kids usually in their walking stage have knock knees, a condition in which the knees angle in and touch one another when the legs are straightened like a triangle. The parents shouldn’t be concerned about this condition, however if it’s excessive or if the parents feel that the child is different from his siblings then they must visit a doctor. 

Dr. Zaid Al Aubaidi further added “Parents should involve their kids in a lot of sports activities. Sometimes I see a lot of kids with back pain and their parents taking them for physiotherapy. These are young kids and they don’t need physiotherapy but need sports activities and they should train their body in the right way.”