Pediatric Orthopedic Conditions at the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation of Khartoum Teaching Hospital: June 2011 to February 2012

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common causes of physician referrals, and children often‘ are admitted to physical therapy for evaluation and treatment. Objectives: The study aims to identify the prevalence of specific musculoskeletal disorders and their complications in the pediatric population treated at Khartoum Teaching Hospital Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department during the period June l, 2011 to January 31, 2012.

Materials andMethods: From June 2011 to February 2012 there were 211 patients admitted for physiotherapy treatment. The patients were placed into three diagnostic categories: primary neurologic diagnosis, primary orthopedic diagnosis, and other diagnosis. Information on their age, sex, diagnosis, referral units, complications, musculoskeletal impairments, interventions, treatments, and therapeutic modalities employed was extracted and compared. Muscle bulk and range of motion measurements of children who had undergone fracture reduction either by surgical or conservative means were obtained and compared to test for statistically significant difference. Results and discussion: There was a total of 3580 treatment sessions undertaken for 211 patients. The most common primary diagnosis was neurologic conditions (60%), followed by orthopedic diagnosis (36.5%). Most patients with a primary neurologic diagnosis were aged 0-4 y/0, and the most common cause of disability was cerebral palsy (34%) while most children with a primary orthopedic diagnosis were aged 5-9 years old. Forty percent of patients with primary neurologic diagnosis suffered from orthopedic complications especially pes equinus (13%). The most common primary orthopedic diagnosis was

fracture (69.7%) especially upper limb fractures (n=45, 83%) of which supracondylar fractures formed the majority (n=29, 64%). The results for the difference of ROM and MBM measurements of the surgical and non-surgical reduced groups using the T-test at 5% level were not significant. Conclusion: Our study shows that prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and complications are similar to many other countries. It also indicates that trauma and congenital diseases remain important causes of morbidity and thus it remains upon healthcare providers to improve upon measures to prevent their occurrence. Keywords: pediatrics, 0rthopedic', physical therapy, fracture,_cerebral palsy.