Musculoskeletal Disorder, Essay Example

Personal and Medical History

Personal History

A teenager, who was born and raised in Nigeria, was brought to ther orthopedic clinic for evaluation after complaining of muscle pain and tenderness. The child attended school in Nigeria and lived with parents there until age 12 when the family migrated to United States of America. T.D. is very athletic, but knee pains and what is classified knock knee often prevents him from excelling the desired manner. He was brought in by both parents seeking expertadvice on what are the most appropriate measures to take in addressing the teenager’s concern (Adegbehingbe, Fatusi & Adegbenro, 2010).

Medical History

T.D’s parents gave a medical history of a healthy 8 pound baby who gasped and cried at birth. During childhood there were no known illnesses except for occasional colds. He never had any vaccines until when it became mandatory for travelling to United States of America three years ago. Upon examination the teenager had an obvious deformity of the knees being turned inwards. At age 15 years old he weight approximately 185 pounds with a height of 5 6 inches tall. However, even though otherwise healthy with these knees turning inwards walking became increasingly difficult and painful.  After a thorough skeletal muscular examination the orthopedic doctor diagnosedGenu valgum known as knock knee (Adegbehingbe et.al, 2010).

Genu valgum is a musculoskeletal disorder characterized by an unusual knee angling inwards and feet remarkably outwards. Patient affected by Genu valgum experience difficultytouching their feet when held together and legs are straightened. It is normal for children to have knock knees between 2 -6 years old, but the condition is expected to resolve by age 12-16. In T. D scenario it did not (Mather, Hug, Orlando, Watters, Koenig, Nunley & Bolognesi, 2014).

Drug Therapy and Treatment

In this case therapeutic intervention is imperative because if the condition continues to go uncorrected into adult life chronic knee irregularities such as chondromalacia and osteoarthritis will become serious mobility issues for the adolescent. Already T.D is experiencing difficulty walking, which is affecting his quality of life. Therefore, intervention is aimed at repairing the abnormality and not merely treating symptoms. Primarily in children at T.D’s age orthotic shoes or leg braces is applied at nights. This is expected to gently replace the knee into position(Aartun, Degerfalk, Kentsdotter & Hestbaek, 2014).

The patient’s weight is also closely monitored since this creates more pressure to the delinquent knee. In addition physical therapy is combined with night application of shoes and bracers. This process involves treating the entire leg through activating arch development of the feet and stimulating the leg abductor muscles to respond normal curvatures of the feet. Ultimately, strategies are designed to facilitate movement of the inner ankle inwards towards the outer ankle bones as well as upward towards the knee. Physical therapists have reported immense success utilizing this program on young people and children. When these preliminary measures failto correct the condition surgery is recommended. These include lower femur adjustment and total knee replacement (Aartun et.al,2014).

Follow up

Patients such as T.D require an extensive follow up period with both orthopedic doctor and physical therapists sinceGenu valgum (knock Knee) has a long intervention phase accompanied by evaluations to determine the progress of knee articulation into its normal rotation(Balmaceda, 2014).

References

Aartun, E. Degerfalk, A. Kentsdotter, L., &Hestbaek, L. (2014).Screening of the spine in adolescents: inter- and intra-rater reliability and measurement error of commonly used clinical tests.BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 15(13).

Adegbehingbe, O. Fatusi, A., &Adegbenro, C. (2010).Musculoskeletal Disorders: Epidemiology and Treatment Seeking Behavior of Secondary School Students in a Nigerian Community.Indian J Community Med, 34(1); 52–56.

Balmaceda, C. (2014).Evolving guidelines in the use of topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of osteoarthritis.BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 15(27).

Mather, C. Hug, K. Orlando,L.Watters, T. Koenig, L. Nunley, R., & Bolognesi, M. (2014). Economic evaluation of access to musculoskeletal care: the case of waiting for total knee Arthroplasty. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 15(22).