About the Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Reconstruction of Malformations and Foot Surgery at University Hospital Muenster
The Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Reconstruction of Malformations and Foot Surgery at the University Hospital Muenster offers the full range of services in these medical fields. The main areas of specialization in pediatric orthopedics are the treatment of hip pathologies, feet and hand deformities, and congenital deformities of the lower limbs. The department treats more than 5,000 patients annually. It performs about 200 foot surgeries and more than 150 hip surgical procedures. With 2,000 ultrasound examinations of the hip joint per year, the department is the leading specialized medical facility in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. The Chief Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Robert Rödl.
For the treatment of various deformities in children, for example, different lengths or curvatures of the lower limbs, the department's specialists use external fixators, elongated intra-bone pins and plates with angular stability. In addition, the department's doctors have in their arsenal tremendous range of conservative and surgical treatment methods for impaired foot statics and dynamics due to the neurological diseases, connective tissue degeneration and injuries.
The competence of the department's doctors also includes the treatment of rare diseases. The close cooperation with the Departments of Pediatric Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Surgery and Human Genetics allows the team of the department's doctors to provide comprehensive and professional treatment.
The service range of the department includes:
- Diagnostics and treatment of common orthopedic disorders in children
- Diagnostics and treatment of rare diseases in children affecting the musculoskeletal system
- Diagnostics and treatment of clubfoot (therapeutic approach based on the Ponseti method)
- Ultrasound diagnostics of the hip joint, including in newborns
- Diagnostics and treatment of neuro-orthopedic diseases
- Diagnostics and treatment of achondroplasia (bone growth disorder)
- Diagnostics and treatment of limb deformities (for example, different lengths or curvatures of the lower limbs, bone defects)
- Conservative and surgical treatment of foot deformities and diseases
- Diagnostics and treatment of other musculoskeletal diseases
Curriculum vitae
Education and Professional Experience
- 1986 - 1991 Study of Medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
- 1991 - 1992 Practical year in the medical facilities in Munich, Coventry (England), Muenster.
- 1992 Medical examination at the University of Muenster.
- 1992 - 1993 Internship in the Department of Surgery at the Academic Hospital Munich Harlaching.
- 1993 - 1994 Internship in the Department of General Orthopedics at the University Hospital Muenster.
- 1994 Approbation (medical license).
- 1994 - 1998 Assistant Physician in the Department of General Orthopedics at the University Hospital Muenster.
- 1996 Doctoral thesis defense. Subject: "Experimental, electromyographic studies on the function of the healthy and unstable shoulder".
- 1998 Board certification in General Orthopedics.
- 1998 - 2008 Senior Physician in the Department of General Orthopedics at the University Hospital Muenster.
- 2004 Habilitation on the subject: "Limb-preserving tumor surgeries".
- 2004 Board certification in Special Orthopedic Surgery.
- 2005 Board certification in Pediatric Orthopedics.
- Since 2008 Chief Physician of the Department of Pediatric Orthopedics, Reconstruction of Malformations and Foot Surgery at the University Hospital Muenster.
Additional Qualifications and Awards
- 2006 Konrad Biesalski Prize of the German Society for Orthopedics and Orthopedic Surgery.
- 1990 - 1991 Research Assistant at the Institute of Anatomy in Munich.
- 1998 Limb Deformity Course (Prof. Paley).
- 1999 Advanced medical training, Department of Pediatric Orthopedics of the Orthopedic Hospital Speising, Vienna, Austria (Prof. F. Grill).
- 2000 Advanced medical training, Orthopedic Hospital Olga, Stuttgart (Prof. K. Parsch).
- 2000 Advanced medical training, Orthopedic Children's Hospital, Aschau (Dr. med. J. Correll).
- 2001 Advanced medical training, Department of Pediatric Orthopedics at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland (Prof. F. Hefti).
- 2002 Advanced medical training, Department of Pediatric Orthopedics at the Municipal Hospital Dortmund (Prof. B.-D. Katthagen).
Photo of the doctor: (c) Universitätsklinikum Münster