Congenital malformations of the upper extremities can be accompanied by significant functional deficits. In clinical terms, the body parts missing from birth are looking in many cases similar to amputations. In comparison to children with amputations, children with congenital malformations do not feel any physical loss of the missing extremity.
The treatment regime is therefore very much based on the functional gain and benefit that can be achieved through surgical or conservative measures.
The speakers of the instructional course have been working together for many years in an interdisciplinary consultation for children with congenital malformations and convey ideas about both surgical and conservative options for functionally expanding treatments.
Children's hands can benefit from the surgical options of syndactyly separations, opponensplasties, pollicizations and toe transfers in terms of the everyday suitability of their malformed hand. Where this is not possible, there are purpose-oriented aids in the field of prosthetics and functional aids, especially for the compensation of larger defects.
All efforts focus on supporting the gripping function, which comes into play in the diverse situations of children's everyday lives (e.g. personal hygiene, sport, play, music and leisure).
The child is the focus of these efforts and must be taken into account with all of his or her feelings, inclinations and reactions.
Statement of the objective / learning objectives
From an interdisciplinary perspective, participants are introduced to and taught both new care approaches and existing care solutions with prostheses and functional aids for dealing with these special situations.
