A teenage girl from Blainville suffered more than a year of leg pain that neither doctors nor exams could explain, until a surgeon discovered that she was struggling to walk because her bones were twisted.
Catherine Bélanger's disease, aged 16, was invisible. No X-ray could detect the problem. And as her condition worsened, doctor visits multiplied, but neither anti-inflammatory drugs nor physiotherapy could relieve her.
The teenager previously active, could not even reach the second floor of his house, without taking a break between the two levels.
Short of ideas, her doctors sent her to the Shriners Hospital for Children. It is thanks to this consultation with Dr. Mitchell Bernstein, a leader in North America to correct bone deformities, that the mystery has been solved.
Because even though his legs were "perfectly straight" on X-rays, Dr. Bernstein noticed that something was wrong with the teenager's approach.
"His feet were facing out and his knees were spinning on the wrong side," he says.
The femur in the thigh was too inward and the shin in the leg turned too far out.
Bones broken and turned
His shins had to be broken, then a metal fixator was screwed to his leg. For nearly a month, her parents had to turn the stems every day by one or two degrees for the bones to rotate.
The femurs, in the thigh, have meanwhile been detorsadés at once, and then screwed so that they stay in place.
"Ouch!" Says the mother of the teenager, Hélène Carra. It was her first reaction when she knew about the surgeries that were waiting for her daughter.
"It's surprising," she said, "but it was also a great relief, because at last we knew [what she was suffering]."
The young woman did not hesitate a single second when learning the only treatment available to her. Catherine Bélanger admits that she still refused to fear for her future.
"But it was coming ...", she blows.
She had signed up for a trip to Spain next summer. The itinerary includes several days of walking through the Pyrenees Mountains and, to his great relief, all indications are that she will be able to take part.
Catherine Bélanger's limb torsion is very rare, but also under-diagnosed, Dr. Bernstein fears.
In English, this syndrome is called "miserable malalignment" and it begins to be felt only after growth is over. Child, the body manages to compensate, says the expert.
Sensitization
"You can only find a problem if someone is there to see it," says the one who is one of the few orthopedic surgeons specialized in deformities.
Increasingly, medical students are becoming aware of the possibility of twisted bones.
Dr. Bernstein does not rule out that many may have suffered in the past, without knowing it, eventually having to move in a wheelchair.
Without treatment, the twisted bones will cause severe osteoarthritis, which can tear ligaments and lead to hip replacement.
Fortunately, once back in the right direction, the bones do not move.
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