At the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2016 Annual Meeting, surgeons presented a study estimating the average number of at-home recovery days for 10 common orthopedic surgeries.
The researchers tracked 215 patients treated at Children's Orthopaedics of Atlanta and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The patients were five-years-old to 19-years-old enrolled in elementary, middle or high school from September 2014 to December 2015.
"Parents are naturally concerned about a child's pending surgery, and not knowing how many days the child will be home — in need of their parents for medications, wound care and general parental care — can add to family stress," said lead study author Clifton Willimon, MD, a pediatric sports medicine physician and orthopedic surgeon at Children's Orthopaedics of Atlanta, and medical director of orthopedics quality and outcomes at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
The researchers found pediatric patients stayed at home for an average of:
1. Supracondylar fracture pinning: Six days
2. ACL reconstruction: Six days
3. Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy: Six days
4. Spinal fusion for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: 42 days
5. Both-Bone forearm fracture fixation: Four days
6. Arthroscopic shoulder surgery: Six days
7. Hip arthroscopy for hip impingement: 10 days
8. Limb length discrepancy correction: Nine days
9. Slipped capital femoral epiphysis: 9.5 days
10. Femur fracture fixation: 13 days