I believe in the body's innate
ability to heal its self.
I believe in the wisdom and planning
of nature.
I believe in an unfair life.
That last one may not be obvious, so let me explain. We are all born with limitations. Most of the time, these limitations are accepted because they are things we cannot change. I am short and because I am short there are things that I cannot do like crew a boat. Crewing a boat was something I had really wanted to do when I moved to Boston. I was informed, not very politely I might add, that I was too short to crew and the only position I could have would be coxswain. I wanted to row, not yell at people. Sometimes we are born with things that we cannot change. It is said to be unfair that we cannot accomplish everything our hearts desire. I think rejection is a major part of life and sometimes we need the opportunity to change our desires to find the experience we were truly looking to achieve. The things that we consider unfair are just opportunities to change, grow or prove the world wrong.
There are other kinds of limitations though. These are limitations that are perceived as fixable. The fix though, is not anything less than major surgery.
Here is the story. My 2 1/2 year old daughter was diagnosed with a dysplastic hip about six months ago. If you know nothing about hip dysplasia, it is a condition where the head of the femur does not sit properly in the socket of the hip. This is a little bit of an over simplification, but there are many different levels and varieties of this dysfunction. In most children, this is diagnosed at birth or at least before the age of 1 year. This was not caught by the doctors until I mentioned that she had a limp. That started us on this path of X-rays and visits to surgeons that has sent me on an emotional series of ups and downs that includes writing this article. The confirmed statement is that she has a fully dislocated hip and the surgeons say she needs surgery that involves cutting into her pelvis and her femur as well as the muscles and tendons supporting these bones followed by three months in a body cast, physical therapy, additional surgeries to remove hardware and that is it, as long as everything goes perfectly. Like the first statement says, I believe in the body's innate ability to heal its self. If I believe in this, then it is only logical for me to attempt to find another way to help reposition my daughter's leg.
Our first move was to talk with a chiropractor. He is adjusting her back and neck to keep them in line but did not have experience with adjusting a leg as out of alignment as hers. We were recommended to another chiropractor who has some experience with such dysfunctions. After meeting with this second chiropractor, he recommended we find a physical therapist. Off on the wild goose chase we go. There is not the appropriate amount of research suggesting physical therapy as a treatment or method of adjustment for a child's dislocated hip so most physical therapists say they cannot help and we should have the surgery. They inform me that any attempt to fix/alleviate this problem with physical therapy would be too tedious, long and involved for so young a child. They of course follow these comments with a spiel on their own personal cause that I should worry about in addition to her dysplasia.
That is where we sit at the moment; hoping that someone can fix her leg without opening her up. I am writing this because I cannot be the only person who thinks that these issues can be dealt with internally. My scouring of the Internet has not brought me many results. Anybody out there opt out of surgery?
Thanks for reading,
Sarah
Want more information on Hip Dysplasia?
http://www.hipdysplasia.org/developmental-dysplasia-of-the-hip/faq/
http://www.hip-baby.org/
http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a1489605/hip_dysplasia_kids
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