Introduction
Bow legs denote a malposition of the knees, where both knees deviate outwards. The name comes from the fact that the knees, when viewed from the front, resemble the image of an O. The malalignment can be treated with surgery, which is often considered by orthopedic surgeons as an alternative to conservative treatment with an orthosis.
Indication for surgery
Of course, there must be good reasons to prefer surgery on the knee joints to treatment in a conservative manner. Such a reason for a surgical correction of the leg axis is given if the patient has an early stage of knee arthrosis due to the bow legs, which affects the inner part of the joint. In most cases, these patients have a very significant deviation of the knee axis and also complain of pain.
If one would not operate, this could result in the complete wear and tear of the knee and a knee prosthesis would have to be installed. To prevent this, a timely operation of the bow legs is very useful. General information about bow legs can be found here: bandy legs
Procedure of the surgery for bow legs
The operation is always performed under general anesthesia. The aim of an operation is to correct the knee axes and to distribute the body weight equally over both menisci. The most commonly used surgical method is the so-called “open wedge” osteotomy.
In this procedure, the inside of the tibia is sawn in underneath the knee joint and spread wedge-shaped until the desired position is achieved. The spreading is performed under regular radiological control. The resulting gap must be filled with bone material, depending on the size of the gap.
As a rule, the material is obtained from the iliac crest. The bone or the gap must then be fixed. This is done with an angled fixation plate, which is screwed on directly below the knee joint.
The fixation holds the spread bone so strongly that no further external fixation by an orthosis is necessary. Another, but less common type of surgery is the “closed wedge” osteotomy. In contrast to the former method, a wedge-shaped portion of bone is cut out of the outer tibial head and then fixed in place.
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