Paediatric Trauma Care

“Children aren’t small adults — their fractures need a specialist who understands growing bones.”

What is Paediatric Trauma Care?

Paediatric trauma care is the specialised treatment of bone, joint, and soft-tissue injuries in children and adolescents. Children’s skeletons are still growing, so injuries that look similar to adult fractures often need a very different approach. Even a small misalignment near a growth plate can affect how a limb develops over the next several years.

Dr. Ashwani Maichand combines experience in adult orthopaedic trauma with the gentle, growth-aware techniques required for paediatric patients — ensuring children heal quickly, accurately, and with their long-term mobility protected.

Common Paediatric Trauma Conditions

• Forearm and wrist fractures — the most common childhood fracture, often from falls onto an outstretched hand.
• Supracondylar humerus fractures (above the elbow) — require timely intervention to avoid nerve and blood-vessel complications.
• Femur (thigh bone) fractures — managed with traction, casting, or paediatric flexible nailing depending on age and pattern.
• Growth-plate injuries (Salter-Harris fractures) — need precise reduction to prevent future growth disturbance.
• Open fractures — surgical emergencies requiring debridement, antibiotics, and stabilisation.
• Sports-related ligament and meniscus injuries in adolescents.

How Paediatric Trauma is Treated

The treatment plan depends on the child’s age, the location of the injury, and how much the bone has moved out of place.

• Casting and splinting: Most uncomplicated fractures are managed without surgery using a well-moulded plaster or removable splint.
• Closed reduction under sedation: The bone is realigned without an incision and held with a cast.
• Percutaneous pinning: Small wires are inserted through the skin to stabilise the fracture — particularly useful for elbow and wrist fractures.
• Flexible intramedullary nailing: Soft titanium rods are passed through the bone’s marrow canal to support healing of long-bone fractures with minimal disruption to growth plates.
• Plate fixation: Reserved for older adolescents whose growth plates have closed.
• External fixation: Used in complex open fractures, severe contamination, or when soft-tissue swelling makes internal fixation unsafe.

What to Expect After Treatment

• Pain control with paediatric-safe medication.
• Cast care advice — keeping it clean, dry, and intact.
• Regular follow-up X-rays to monitor alignment and healing, especially around growth plates.
• Gradual return to school activities, then to sport once the surgeon clears it.
• Physiotherapy where stiffness or weakness lingers after cast removal.

Why Choose Dr. Ashwani Maichand?

Children require not only surgical skill, but also the patience and reassurance that helps them and their parents through a stressful time. With over 30 years of orthopaedic experience and dedicated paediatric expertise, Dr. Maichand offers calm, careful, and growth-aware trauma care — with clear explanations every step of the way.

For evaluation and treatment of any childhood fracture or bone injury, consult Dr. Ashwani Maichand.

Frequently Asked Questions