Distal Femoral Extension Osteotomy & Patellar Tendon Advancement

Hi @Jaimeuk this is Jon's partner writing - our son (12, also diplegic) had both femurs cut and reset a year ago to correct the in-turning of his legs which was getting progressively worse, but of course every child with CP is different and your son's op is not quite the same. Also, Jordi's condition did not generally cause him pain. He was already quite mobile before the operation (he did use a walker for school but not outside of it and could run and ride a scooter for short distances, for example). It was a question of doing work to prevent the mobility from ultimately being reduced, rather than intending to improve it by much if you see what I mean. With regards to the surgery, he was in hospital for longer than anticipated - nearly three weeks as opposed to a few days, and the surgeon was also too optimistic about the overall recovery time.The first six or seven weeks were quite tough, I won't lie! It is a year on from the operation and while he is still not able to walk as far as he could before yet, it has markedly corrected the inward rotation which was the point. He has been left with more a crouched gait than previously because of being in a wheelchair for such a time, which means there is more pressure on his thigh muscles when he walks. We are doing physio to help correct this and it is possible he will need further tendon or muscle surgery at some stage (this was always given as a possibility before the first operation).However, there is no question that he needed to have the operation done and he is improving all the time, just on a longer time-scale than we had anticipated. It has been in his best interests in the long term.

Hi @Jaimeuk - Jon this time.  They chose not to put him in casts and instead use a wedge strapped between his legs to keep them in position. This made things easier with getting him about, but as your son's op is different you'd have to ask if this is an option.