My Approach to Treating Patients

Dr. Lehman's practice is limited to pediatric orthopaedic surgery and includes:

• CLUBFOOT
  
• PEDIATRIC REHABILITATION MEDICINE
  
• LIMB LENGTHENING and RECONSTRUCTION
  
• NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS
  
• SPASTICITY, ARTHROGRYPOSIS
  
• BONE and SOFT TISSUE TUMORS
  
• CONGENITAL DISLOCATION of the HIP
  
• BLOUNT'S DISEASE and other BONE DEFORMITIES
  
• PEDIATRIC FRACTURES
  
• RHEUMATOID DISORDERS in CHILDREN

The comprehensive treatment of clubfoot deformities is available at the Center for Children at the Hospital for joint Diseases. All modalities of treatment ate used, depending on the type of clubfoot being treated.

Treatment may be initiated by parental consultation with the staff following the diagnosis of a clubfoot in utero (by ultrasound), or after birth and continue through childhood, adolescence an to adulthood in the case of persistent clubfoot problems.

Clubfoot treatment may consist of the following:

• Exercises with or without the use of a constant motion machine (French technique)
  
• Manipulation and casting (Kite technique)
  
• Minimally invasive surgery combined with casting (Iowa-Ponseti technique)
  
• Surgery - soft tissue releases
  • Posterior foot release (English technique)
    
  • Posteromedial foot release (Turco technique)
    
  • All inclusive posteromedial and lateral releases, including plantar release (McKay-Simmon technique)
    
  • Progressive soft tissue releases (Bensahel and Lehman "a la carte technique")
    
  • Tendon transfers
    
  • Osteotomies of the foot and leg (in the older child)
    
  • External fixation to correct deformity (in the older child). May be of Russian (llizarov), Italian, or American variety (EBI).
    
  • Revision clubfoot surgery in children and adults.

Surgeries are performed at the Hospital for Joint Diseases or NYU Hospitals Center operating room suites and are all done under the supervision of pediatricians and pediatric anesthesiologists. The majority of procedures are done on an outpatient basis. If the patient is required to be hospitalized, he/she can elect to be admitted to either the Hospital for Joint Diseases or NYU Hospitals Center. Parents are required to be present at all times with their children, including during the time of the surgery and overnight during hospital admissions.

All clubfeet are classified according to type, and children may be evaluated by other disciplines such as genetics and developmental pediatrics.

When necessary, braces or orthoses for daytime and nighttime use are ordered for clubfoot patients.

All children with clubfeet are followed until maturity and continued to be followed into adulthood.

The medical staff of the Center for Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at the Center for Children includes:

Wallace B. Lehman, M.D. David S. Feldman, M.D. Alfred D. Grant, M.D. Gail Chorney, M.D. Harold J.P. van Bosse, M.D. David M. Scher, M.D.

To schedule an appointment or to obtain additional information please contact (212) 598-6682 or (212) 598-6403



Wallace B. Lehman, M.D.
The Wallace B. Lehman, M.D. Center for Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery
The Center for Children, The Hospital for Joint Diseases