How Pediatric Orthopedic Care Puts South Florida Kids Back on Their Feet
When kids break a femur, tear an ACL, or get diagnosed with scoliosis, it’s easy to assume they should receive the same level of orthopedic or sports medicine care that an injured adult might.
But for children and adolescents whose bodies and skeletons are still growing, specialized pediatric orthopedic care is critical.
“This is very different from adult medicine,” said Dr. Craig Spurdle, Chief of Orthopedic Surgery and Co-Director of the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute. “These kids’ growth centers are evolving. Simple injuries can turn out to be more complex. The treatments are different. There are lots of things that happen in this age group that are different from a 25-year-old.”
Orthopedic injuries among kids aren’t rare; their bodies may naturally experience some issues, or they might be injured playing sports. However, treating these issues expediently, effectively, and with specialty care can help ensure that a child doesn’t experience ongoing pain or complications because of a childhood injury.
At Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, specialists like Dr. Spurdle, who is also Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, provide the pediatric orthopedics care Miami and South Florida kids need to get back on their feet — and stay healthy.
Why Is Pediatric Orthopedics Important?
Pediatric orthopedics, spine, and sports medicine specialists keep one factor in mind that isn’t a consideration for adult patients: growth.
Throughout treatment and surgical intervention, these professionals put a special focus on protecting kids’ growth plates, ensuring their future bone development is unimpeded and supported. Because kids aren’t fully grown yet, their skeletal systems require surgeries tailored to each child’s specific growth and developmental stages, meaning a 15-year-old won’t receive the same kind of knee reconstruction surgery as a 60-year-old — or even as a 12-year-old.
This highly specialized surgical and rehabilitative care is best delivered in a facility like the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, which is specifically designed for kids and staffed with specialists in pediatric care. The system’s staff performs more than 1,400 surgeries and 30,000 outpatient visits each year across its pediatric orthopedic clinics in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, making it the go-to network for pediatric fracture care in and around South Florida.
“I do seven or eight different types of ACL reconstructions based on kids’ growth and where they’re at skeletally, so they’re very different from adult surgeries,” Dr. Spurdle said.
As parents know, kids are also behaviorally distinct from adults. Their compliance with post-surgery procedures or physical therapy may be different, and their re-injury rates are also different.
Dr. Spurdle said that among adults aged 25-30, the ACL reinjury rate is 5-6% or less. Among teens aged 16 to 18, it can be as high as 12%.
“[Health] systems like ours are really prepared to handle [it], coming out of injury very well, because it’s what we do every day,” he said.
Thanks to a staff that includes orthopedic surgeons, medical orthopedists, radiologists, anesthesiologists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants — all of whom specialize in pediatric care for kids and teens under age 21 — Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute can provide pediatric orthopedics services across South Florida that range from sports injury rehabilitation to the rare pediatric hip replacement.
When Should Kids See a Pediatric Orthopedics Specialist?
Acute injuries like a major fracture or an ACL tear are straightforward candidates for treatment at the institute. But when a seemingly minor injury keeps plaguing a child or teen — whether the site is swelling, making them limp, or causing ongoing pain — it could also be time for South Florida families to seek pediatric orthopedic care with professionals like Dr. Spurdle.
“With this age group, because the skeletons are evolving so rapidly, it’s worthwhile to get it checked out and have an expert see them,” he said.
Sometimes, active kids and young athletes are “very stoic” about injuries, Dr. Spurdle said, and prefer to push through pain to keep practicing their sport. But small childhood orthopedic and sports injury problems can ultimately cause lifelong health complications, if left unaddressed.
“I think it’s always best to just tell your parents and tell your coaching staff, ‘Look, I have this little problem. What do you think? Is it okay or not?’ And they should triage that to somebody like us and to check it,” Dr. Spurdle said. “We see people who have been playing on complete ACL tears sometimes, and they go on to damage more in the knee, meniscus, cartilage, things that could cause arthritis down the road.
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami is home to the region’s only free-standing pediatric trauma center, making it an excellent facility for families seeking urgent pediatric fracture care in South Florida. Nicklaus Children’s also offers post-fracture follow-up with an orthopedic specialist in one of its many locations, including orthopedic clinics, pediatric urgent care facilities, and emergency rooms throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, within just two days.
Treating Young Athletes
Dr. Spurdle and his colleagues treat South Florida-area athletes of all ages through Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Sports Medicine Program, which extends all of this specialty care to young athletes.
As one of the children’s orthopedic doctors who treats young athletes, Dr. Spurdle often sees children come in with what families believe is an acute, one-off injury, but is actually an injury from overuse. The issue has become increasingly prevalent as kids start to focus on specialized training in one specific sport from an early age, which can create risk for overuse injuries and larger injuries down the road. Cross-training can help young athletes stay healthy and strong across multiple areas.
“You have to have good fitness and cross training, so that it enables you to have all the fun that you want to have in [your sport],” Dr. Spurdle said.
The program offers families diagnostic services, the newest minimally invasive surgery options, and a well-rounded approach to treatment that includes injury prevention strategies, sports nutrition and cardiology, sports rehabilitation, and guidance on returning to play.
When overuse or acute injuries do strike, seeking specialty help at a facility like one of the Nicklaus Children’s Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute’s centers can be especially helpful for young athletes. In the Sports Medicine program, our sports medicine specialists sit with injured kids and teens to show them their imaging, explain normal anatomy compared with their injury, and walk them through the healing or reconstruction process.
A major injury like an ACL tear — which keeps kids out of their sports for nine months after reconstruction surgery — can feel devastating for a young athlete, but the right support network can help them endure surgery, rehab, and the lengthy road to proper recovery.
When kids do reach the end of that road, their recovery partners at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital are ready to celebrate with them.
“We joke with them and we say, so-and-so is graduating today and getting back to sports,” Dr. Spurdle said. “We occasionally have these little trophies we give them for that fun moment and just celebrate their win.”
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute offers services for children and adolescents at locations across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.