This 16 year old male presented to the Bone Healing and Deformity Correction service line with significant right knee pain that he thought was due to a football injury a number of weeks before his clinic visit. He was experiencing significant knee pain and had started developing discomfort in his low back and hips. The standing films (image to the left) show significant "bowing" (varus deformity) of the right knee.  This patient was diagnosed with Blount's disease. The cause of Blount's disease is unknown but it causes the lower leg bone (tibia) to angle inward.  Long-term affects can be the bow-legged appearance that this patient shows.

Surgical intervention was necessary to correct the deformity and minimize the long-term effect the deformity would have on his knee, ankle, hip and spine.  Because the thigh bone (femur) was growing at an odd angle too, both the femur and tibia would need to be addressed.

A closing-wedge osteotomy was done to the lower portion of the femur, near the knee. In this type of osteotomy a triangular shaped "wedge" of bone is removed from the femur above the knee.  The femur is then gentley manipulated so it "closes" on the area where the wedge has been removed. A plate is placed on the femur for stabilization. The x-ray to the left shows the femoral plate and arrow shows the area of osteotomy.

He was also placed in a Taylor Spatial Frame for approximately 6 months in order to address the growth of his lower leg (tibia). The images below are xrays of the patient in the frame.