Osteotomy- Advice please?

[journey_never_ending_]

My daughter is 15 years old. She had knee pain for 4 years now. At first, they passed it down to her Acl which then moved to other ligaments. In June 2016, we were given a proper reason on why she was having knee pain. She has chondromalacia patella in both of her knees : Grade 4 in her left knee and Grade 3 in her right knee. She also has an torn mensucuis. Her left knee is terrible: the doctor has described it as being bone on bone. Her knees crack and pop and grinds all the time. He thinks she has osteoarthritis starting in her knees. She has also have Pt for a year and half to try and manage it. The doctor wants to do an osteotomy on her. Has anyone had this done before? How long will she be off school? How long will it take her to recover?

[aussie1087]

Hi,

I'm really sorry to hear that your daughter is suffering so much with her knees. I had a high tibial osteotomy almost 2 years ago, and while it has helped a lot, my knee will never be 100%. I spent 4 nights in hospital and had 4 weeks off work. It was a struggle when I went back to work (office job) and honestly I could have done with another 1-2 weeks off. I don't think I was allowed to walk for 6-8 weeks, so by the time I was allowed to put weight through my leg, my quad/hamstrings/calf had all vanished. I had to relearn simple things like how to walk (that was pretty sad) and had to practise standing up/sitting down in a chair for weeks before I could do it properly.

You have to put a LOT of time and effort into your rehab if you want things to go back to normal (ish). Especially as your daughter is only 15. I had my HTO when I was 28 so still have a long way to go before knee replacements are an option. Be prepared for plenty of pain, plenty of rehab (over a year of working on rehab). You will both need to be very patient and diligent. I didn't realise how major the surgery was before I had it done, so make sure you both understand how much work it will be. Your daughter will need a lot of help, so hopefully there will be someone that can stay with her in the day time to help her as she needs.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, I'm more than happy to talk about my experiences. Don't let my post scare you off, you just need to know that this surgery requires a LOT of work to get back to where you want to be afterwards.

[slightfield]

I am so sorry that such a young person might have to have such a major surgery.

Yes, I had a open wedge DFO, Distal Femoral Osteotomy 23 weeks ago. I work for a school and was able to have my surgery over the summer. I was weight bearing by the time school started again in September. But, at my 6 month post op appointment I will be finding out whether the doctor feels I am ready to have the hardware removed. There's a titanium plate and 8 screws in there and it is uncomfortable. I would like to have it out soon and that surgery is nowhere near as involved as the initial. Is the doctor recommending a HTO or DFO? She will likely be completely non-weight bearing for 6-12 weeks. That was tough for me, and will be for her if she is active. But it's a MUST. My incision is about 12-14 inches long and required 20+ staples. Also, will they be using a bone allograft or cadaver bone? I had bone grafted from my hip so that was another incision site which will be teender and sore but alot smaller incision, only 2-3 inches for that one.  If you have any more questions feel free!!