Center for Hip Preservation
Total hip care: Any condition. Advanced solutions.
Center for Hip Preservation
The hips support our body weight and allow us to move comfortably when we sit, stand, walk or run. That’s why taking care of the hips — keeping pain to a minimum and mobility to a maximum — is crucial as kids grow.
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Hip Preservation focuses on the latest science in hip care. We aim to preserve the native hip by offering comprehensive care plans, both surgical and nonsurgical, to maximize mobility and provide the best future for hip function. From newborns to young adults, patients of all ages require state-of-the-art care for a wide range of hip health conditions.
We treat all hip problems, from congenital and developmental problems to sports injuries and trauma. Our team of experts works to develop an individualized treatment plan for every patient.
Nationwide Children's Hospital is ranked by U.S. News & World Report for Orthopedics.
Preservation Matters
At Nationwide Children’s Center for Hip Preservation, we aim to maintain or improve mobility, function, and the native hip joint.
Our orthopedic specialists work with physical therapists and other specialists as needed — such as radiology or sports medicine experts — to create a custom care plan for your child’s hip. In most cases, the goal of care is to prevent or decrease pain, improve function, and increase the life of the hip joint.
Your child’s hip care plan may include ultrasound-guided therapies, physical therapy, bracing or medical options. In some cases, surgery is required.
We offer the full range of surgical services used to treat hip trauma, sports injuries, developmental disorders and congenital deformities. In the rare cases when preservation of the native joint is not possible, a young adult hip arthroplasty program is available.
Our surgeons are experts in all surgical approaches to hip preservation, including open and arthroscopic techniques.
Conditions We Treat
We see patients from birth to young adulthood with any hip problem. Many of our patients have congenital or developmental conditions that affect the hip.
Conditions we treat include:
- Developmental hip dysplasia
- Perthes disease
- Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE)
- Hip impingement.
- Traumatic hip dislocation or fracture
- Snapping hip
- Tumor-related conditions
- Chondrolysis
- Avascular necrosis
- Any congenital or development deformity
Treatments
No matter the condition, our team of experts can create a customized treatment plan to meet your child’s needs. Our goals are to ease pain, improve mobility and get patients back to normal activity.
Non-Surgical Therapies
When possible, we try to avoid surgery. Our program uses the latest hip care techniques to reduce pain and improve hip function. Therapies include:
- Ultrasound-guided injections to relieve pain and inflammation
- Custom-made rehabilitation plans
- Individualized physical therapy and functional rehabilitation plans target your child’s needs.
- You will work through the rehabilitation plans at the first visit, at home and at follow-up visits, as needed.
- Sports medicine and biomechanical study
- Our patients can access the Honda Center for Gait Analysis and Mobility Enhancement. This resource can help guide new treatment plans and provide ways to improve existing treatment plans.
- Nutrition and weight counseling
Surgical Procedures
In some cases, surgery is the best way to save or improve the hip. Our hip surgeons will evaluate all patients with imaging and physical exams to determine the best treatment options. Before and after surgery, patients will work with our entire hip care team for pain relief, mobility and therapy.
The surgical procedures we offer include:
- Open and closed hip reduction
- Surgical hip dislocation procedures
- Pelvic and femoral osteotomy
- Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO)
- Hip arthroscopy
- Hip arthroplasty (total hip replacement)
Our Team of Experts
At the Center for Hip Preservation, we have dedicated orthopedic specialists focused on hip care. Our team has extensive experience with the full range of hip health needs. We also work to improve care by innovating and studying more effective ways to treat common hip problems — impacting hip care at hospitals across the country.
Kevin Klingele, MD
Dr. Klingele specializes in hip preservation and reconstruction. His recent work has involved finding new ways to identify the risk for sequential, double-sided (bilateral) SCFE early, to help children with one SCFE hip avoid unnecessary pinning on the second hip. He has produced one of the largest cohorts of patients who have undergone the modified Dunn procedure for unstable SCFE. In addition, he has identified a common labral injury pattern associated with traumatic hip dislocations.
Dr. Klingele is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, International Perthes Study Group and many other specialized orthopedic groups. Learn more about Dr. Klingele.
Thomas Scharschmidt, MD
His research interests include prosthetic implant design and technique, improvement of expandable implants, limb salvage for pediatric patients, and the basic biology and molecular mechanisms of sarcoma. Learn more about Dr. Scharschmidt.
Hip Care Beyond Orthopedics
Our goal is overall wellness for every child. No matter your child’s health need, we have experts to address it. In addition to the support of experts in the areas below, we also have access to the entire range of resources that Nationwide Children’s has to offer.
Research and Innovation
In addition to offering the latest advances in clinical care, our experts at the Center for Hip Preservation do research to find new techniques that will advance the hip health of children everywhere.
Every hip patient at Nationwide Children’s is enrolled in a database to study hip conditions and outcomes. Between 2018-2019, we enrolled more than 2,000 patients in this database. In time, this project will allow doctors and researchers to understand more about how best to treat a wide range of hip health problems. It will also help doctors learn more about hip diseases and how to avoid surgery or complications.
Our team does specialized research on Perthes disease, hip dysplasia, SCFE, surgical techniques, hip preservation methods and much more.
We collaborate with national and international research groups to help advance children’s hip health around the world. To learn more about our research in hip health and other orthopedic issues, please visit our Orthopedics Research and Innovation page.
