Best Pediatric Orthopedic Doctor in ChennaiJeshwanth Orthopaedics
“He will grow out of it.” By the time a mother reaches my clinic, she has often heard that from three or four people. Most of the time they’re right. The ones who aren’t are the reason this page exists.
I’m Dr. Jeshwanth Netaji, an orthopedic surgeon in Chennai, and I see children at Jeshwanth Orthopaedics in Chrompet: a two-week-old with a twisted foot, a seven-year-old who fell from the school bus steps, a fifteen-year-old whose knee hurts after cricket coaching. We listen to the parents first, watch the child walk, and then examine.
If you’ve typed Best Pediatric Orthopedic Doctor in Chennai into a search box, you’re really asking for a doctor who takes a proper look at your child. Once you’re home, ask yourself two things. Did anyone actually examine my child? Could I explain what’s wrong to someone at home?
Why Parents Choose Jeshwanth Orthopaedics
Parents place their trust in us because of our gentle, child-friendly approach and dedication to long-term health:
Time for the story
Parents notice things a doctor can’t see in ten minutes. We listen first.
Conservative first
Many childhood bone problems settle with advice, a cast or a few exercises, and no operation.
Clear explanations
I’d like you to walk out knowing what the problem is and what happens next. If you don’t, ask again.
Follow-up until growth is normal
We keep checking your child for as long as the bones are still growing and the problem needs watching.
What Is Pediatric Orthopedic Care?
This is the part of orthopedics that deals with growing bones, from a newborn’s feet to a teenager’s spine.
A child’s bones are still lengthening, and that changes how almost everything is treated. Long bones have a growth plate near the ends. It is the soft part that makes the bone longer, and it stays open until the mid-to-late teens. If a fracture goes through the plate, the child needs follow-up for months, because the bone can stop growing on one side. In a young child with a bent leg, the growth can sometimes be guided straight with small implants, and nothing needs to be cut. Whatever the problem, I start by asking how much growth is still ahead.
A good part of what brings families in turns out to be normal growth, and sorting that from the real problems takes most of the consulting time.
Pediatric Orthopedic Conditions We Treat
Clubfoot Treatment in Chennai
At birth the foot points down and turns in. Earlier is better, ideally in the first week or two. The standard treatment is the Ponseti method: weekly plasters for five or six weeks, often a tiny heel-cord release, then a brace, day and night at first and at night until age four or five. When families stop the brace early, the foot can turn back.
Bow Legs and Knock Knees
Bow legs are normal up to about two years, and knock knees are common at three to four, correcting by seven or eight. It needs a harder look if the shape is marked, one-sided, getting worse, or if the child is short or has knee pain, to rule out low vitamin D (rickets) or Blount’s disease.
Newborn Feet and Hips
A baby’s feet and hips are worth having looked at in the first weeks, especially if the baby was born breech, is a girl, or has a family history of hip problems. A foot that stays bent in even after gentle movement, or thigh folds and leg lengths that look uneven, should not wait for the next vaccination visit.
Hip Problems
A baby’s hip may not sit well in its socket, and a soft harness often works in the first months. A limp between four and eight years may be Perthes disease, and in heavier teenagers “knee pain” can come from a slipped growth plate at the hip. I check the hip in every child who limps, because hip trouble often shows up as knee pain.
Fractures and Growth Plate Injuries
The elbow fracture that most often ends up in the operation theatre is the one just above the joint, the supracondylar fracture. It usually comes from a child landing on an outstretched hand. Wrist and forearm breaks mostly need only a cast for four to six weeks. If your child has just fallen, leave the arm or leg in the position it is in. Don’t pull it straight, don’t massage it and don’t put oil on it. Get an X-ray first. And if surgery might be needed, hold off on food and drink.
In a child, the growth plate gives way before the ligament does. If your child falls and the area next to a joint hurts and swells, take an X-ray, whether or not the child can still move it. The first film can look clear. It is sometimes repeated, and these children are followed until growth is normal.
Scoliosis Treatment for Children in Chennai
Scoliosis in a teenager is usually idiopathic, meaning there is no cause we can point to. In the clinic I ask the child to bend forward with arms hanging down, and I look along the back for a hump on one side of the ribs. A standing X-ray then measures the curve. Under 25 degrees the curve is usually just watched. Between 25 and 40 degrees, in a child who is still growing, a brace is worth discussing, and surgery is kept for curves beyond about 45 to 50 degrees. Many teenagers brought in for “bad posture” turn out to have a straight spine.
Toe Walking and Flat Feet
Plenty of toddlers walk on tiptoe for a while, and most stop by two or three years of age. Beyond that, or with a limp or falls, the cause needs finding. A flexible, painless flat foot needs no treatment, and insoles don’t change the arch. A stiff or painful one should be examined.
In-Toeing in Children
Many children walk with the feet turned in, most noticeably between two and five years. It often looks worse when they run, or when they sit on the floor with the feet tucked outside the hips. Most children straighten out by themselves by eight to ten years of age. A child who trips often, has one foot turned more than the other, or complains of pain should be examined.
Sports Injuries in Growing Children
Growing bone gets sore where tendons pull: the heel (Sever’s disease), below the kneecap (Osgood-Schlatter disease), the elbow in fast bowlers. Back pain in a young fast bowler can be a spinal stress injury, not a muscle pull.
When Should Your Child See a Specialist?
Please book a visit for:
- A limp, frequent falls, or a child who has stopped running
- Pain that keeps returning in one spot, or is still there in the morning
- Bow legs or knock knees that are marked, lopsided or getting worse
- Toe walking past the toddler years, or one leg that looks shorter
Urgent Evaluation: Go to a hospital the same day for severe pain after an injury, a limb that looks wrong, a child who won’t use it, a badly swollen joint, or a limp with fever. A hot, swollen joint can be an infection and cannot wait.
Growing Pains or Something Else?
Growing pains come in the evening or at night, in both legs, usually in the calves or behind the knees, after a busy day. By morning the child is running about as usual. Growing pains don’t cause a limp, swelling or fever, and they don’t stay in one spot, in one leg only, or hang around till morning. If your child has any of those, get the leg examined.
How We Diagnose and Treat
We begin with what parents tell us, watch the child stand, walk and run, then examine. Tests come after that, and only if the result will change what we do. An X-ray answers most questions about fractures and deformities (the dose in a child is low), ultrasound is for a baby’s hips, and an MRI is kept for problems an X-ray can’t settle. Watching a child walk often tells us more than a scan.
Very often the treatment is simply to wait and see your child again in three to six months. Physiotherapy, casts and braces come next. Surgery is the last step, and before any operation the reasons, the alternatives and the recovery are explained, and the family decides in its own time.
What to Expect at Your First Visit
Bring every X-ray, report and old prescription you have, even the ones that seem unimportant. I would rather see too many than too few. For a baby, the birth and vaccination records help too. A limp that comes and goes is hard to catch in a clinic. A short phone video of your child walking at home is useful. By the end of the visit you should have a plan, or a reason there is nothing to plan, and a date to come back if needed.
Caring for a Cast or Brace at Home
A cast has to stay dry. For the first few days, rest the arm or leg up on pillows to keep the swelling down. When it itches, and it will, resist the ruler or knitting needle. Look at the fingers or toes once a day: they should be pink, warm and able to move. Come back the same day if the pain is getting worse, the fingers or toes turn swollen, numb, pale or blue, the limb feels cold, there is a bad smell or fever, or the cast gets wet, soft or cracked.
Most children go back to school quite happily with a cast. Sports are not, and the teacher needs to know. Let your child carry the bag on the side that isn’t injured. If it’s the writing arm, ask the school about a scribe for exams, and give them the dates early.
Meet Dr. Jeshwanth Netaji
Parents often look for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in Chennai. Here is my background. I practise orthopedics at Jeshwanth Orthopaedics in Chrompet and lead the team there. I trained through MBBS and MS Ortho (AIIMS), and I also hold DNB, FNB, FAPHS and MNAMS. I’ve been in practice for more than ten years.
Apart from children, I treat fractures, sports injuries and arthritis. And if a grandparent at home needs a joint replaced, our Knee Replacement Surgery In Chennai and Hip Replacement Surgeon In Chennai pages explain how we approach that.
A Children’s Orthopedic Clinic in Chrompet
We are in Chrompet, Chennai, and I would rather you came to a clinic you can reach easily, because children tend to need several visits. A clubfoot baby is seen weekly for plaster changes, a fracture is checked again after a few weeks, and a curving spine is reviewed every few months. If you are searching for a children’s bone doctor near Chromepet, you can book a visit with us, and families from the surrounding areas are welcome too.
How to Choose a Pediatric Orthopedic Specialist in Chennai?
Type Best Pediatric Orthopedic Doctor in Chennai into any search page and a long list comes up. A doctor’s position on it says little about how they handle a frightened three-year-old. Ask where the doctor trained. Ask whether surgery is the only option on offer. And ask who will see your child at the follow-up.
A few things tell you a lot in the consulting room. The doctor talks to your child as well as to you. The child is seen walking before any scan is ordered. You are shown the X-ray, not just told about it. If surgery is suggested at the very first visit and nothing else is offered, it is fair to ask for a second opinion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whenever a problem hasn’t settled on its own: a pain that keeps coming back, a limp, frequent falls, an odd way of walking, or a fall where you suspect a broken bone.
Often, yes. Bow legs are normal until about two, and knock knees are common around three to four. Have them looked at if the shape is marked, affects only one leg, or is getting worse.
No. Most are managed by watching and re-checking, or with exercises, a brace or a change in activity, and only a small group ends up in the operation theatre.
It can, if the break crosses the growth plate, which is why such injuries are followed until growth is normal.
A single X-ray of an arm or leg uses a very small dose. We take one only when the result will change what we do.
Not on a fixed date. It depends on the bone and the sport, and we go by the latest X-ray, not just by how the child feels. Training then restarts in stages.
Someone who examines your child properly, explains in plain words and gives a plan that fits. That is what to look for in the Best Pediatric Orthopedic Doctor in Chennai for your family.
Book a Pediatric Orthopedic Consultation in Chrompet, Chennai
A limp that won’t go away, a leg that looks bent, or a fall that still hurts after a week should not be left to guesswork. Come to Jeshwanth Orthopaedics in Chrompet and you will get a straight answer.
Before you come, note when you first noticed it, whether it is worse in the evening, and any recent fall or fever. Come in, and let’s find out what is going on.