Childhood Disabilities & Disorders
- When to Seek Therapy
- Disabilities & Disorders
- ADHD/ADD
- Anxiety Disorders
- Apraxia of Speech, Childhood
- Articulation Disorders
- Asperger's Syndrome
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Birth Injuries
- Central Auditory Processing Disorder
- Cerebral Palsy
- Clubfoot
- Conduct Disorder
- Down Syndrome
- Elimination disorders (enuresis and encopresis)
- Failure to thrive/feeding disorder
- Fine and Gross Motor Delays
- Fluency/Stuttering
- Fracture
- Fragile X Syndrome
- Gait abnormalities
- Global Developmental Delay
- Hip dysplasia
- Language Delays
- Learning Disabilities
- Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease
- Mental Retardation
- Mood Disorders
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
- Oral Motor Disorders
- Orthopedic conditions
- Osgood-Schlatter Disease
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder
- Pica
- Reactive attachment disorder of infancy or early childhood
- Reading Disorders
- Scoliosis
- Selective Mutism
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Tic disorders
- Torticollis (Wry Neck)
- Additional Resources
Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease
Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease
Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease is the result of interruption to the blood flow to the head of the femur (thigh bone) in a young patient. The head of the femur is the ball of the ball-and-socket hip joint. New bone formation at the growth plate can be abnormal. The most common hypothesis is that there is a blood clotting abnormality.15-20% of patients have involvement on both sides. Males are affected 4-5x more than females, ages 3-9 years old.
Symptoms:
• Hip or groin pain
• Mild or intermittent pain in the front of the thigh or knee(referred pain)
• Limp
• Usually no history of trauma or injury
On testing, strength of all hip muscles will be weaker, painful walking pattern will be observed, and one will often observe a limp and limited hip extension. Balance will also be affected, especially on the affected hip.
The younger the onset, the better the prognosis. Children over the age of 10, have a high risk of developing early hip arthritis but most have a favourable outcome!
Treatment of Perthes Disease varies depending on the extent of the condition. In general, treatment of Perthes Disease is aimed at relief of symptoms, maintaining hip motion, and keeping the hip in the proper position. Occasionally, surgery is needed to keep the femur bone (thigh bone) properly aligned inside the hip joint, but most often treatment of Perthes Disease is non-surgical.
Physiotherapy is useful for pain management as well as for measuring any leg length discrepancy and providing functional exercises for maintaining range of motion and strength.
