In the current issue of HAUSARZT PRAXIS you will find two contributions from the field of pediatric orthopedics/pediatric surgery as CME certified continuing education. Pediatricians and family physicians frequently see patients with abnormalities in posture and/or movement in their offices.
Complaint-free locomotion in everyday life is a matter of course for most of us. The motion sequence during walking should allow for the most economical, goal-oriented locomotion possible. This requires various and sometimes complex movements. The paper by Wegener et al. from St. Gallen deals with differentiated motion analysis in pediatric orthopedics. The presentation of the benefits and application of instrumental 3D gait analysis makes it clear how complex and multi-layered motion sequences are during walking and which requirements must be met for a physiological gait. The list of different analysis methods and questions in gait analysis allows readers to initiate a differentiated clarification if necessary.
Funnel chest and keel chest represent the most common congenital deformities of the anterior thoracic wall. Often the deformity is combined with a malposition of the spine. Many patients present with only mild findings in childhood. Experience shows, however, that with the onset of the pubertal growth spurt there is usually a marked increase in findings. For a long time, surgical correction was considered the sole therapeutic option for the correction of a funnel chest. However, conservative vacuum therapy using a suction cup has become established as an additional therapeutic procedure and has now been offered at the University Children’s Hospital of Basel (UKBB) for ten years. The paper by Häcker et al. shows the possibilities of this therapy method as well as the results obtained so far, which are quite promising.
I wish you good continuing education success with this issue of HAUSARZT PRAXIS. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the authors of the two articles.
PD Dr. med. Frank-Martin Häcker
