The London Knee Osteotomy Centre team successfully perform surgery to realign Jason’s leg and improve his leg length

Complex open wedge distal femoral osteotomy proves life-changing for Jason following a traumatic motorbike accident

Initially, Jason had keyhole surgery which showed cartilage damage. He was also starting to notice that he was struggling to do a minimum of three hours of cycling and training before he had to take anti-inflammatories. Jason knew he couldn’t continue like this and sought specialist advice.

Jason had previously seen a number of different surgeons over the years, but one of his colleagues recommended Professor Adrian Wilson. Jason researched him online and was impressed with the feedback Professor Wilson receives from his patients.  During his initial consultation, Professor Wilson remarked that “Jason has developed grade four medial osteoarthritis. He has come to us with a short leg as a result of his previous fracture and he also has significant bowing of the leg or Varus.” Professor Wilson discussed Jason’s options and recommended performing an open wedge distal femoral osteotomy.

In July 2020, Professor Wilson, Dr Ronald van Heerwaarden and Mr Raghbir Khakha successfully performed an open wedge distal femoral osteotomy. Professor Wilson explained that “Normally, we do a closing wedge on the outside of the femur (thigh bone) for varus, if the varus is in the femur. However, because of the leg shortening, we did an opening wedge on the inside of the bone, achieving the same result in terms of straightening the leg but also increasing his leg length.”

Jason was only in hospital for one night and, even though his recovery was slow, he came off of painkillers very quickly. Soon after his surgery, Jason noticed that his flexion was quite problematic, and his knee was swollen.

Jason visited Professor Wilson to discuss the swelling and his flexion issue and was offered a steroid hyleronicacid injection, which helped the swelling. Professor Wilson also recommended using a JAS brace 3 times a day, which has significantly improved his flexion. Since his surgery, Jason has also been attending physiotherapy sessions to aid his recovery.

Professor Wilson reports: “I’m delighted to say that Jason has very little pain at this stage and is doing very well with good movement. There is minimal swelling and we can see from the imaging how well we have been able to change the alignment from very bowed to nice and straight and also improve his leg length.”

To summarise his overall experience with Professor Wilson, Jason says: “I can only say positive things. The team were efficient, and I had complete faith in their knowledge and how Professor Wilson works with Dr Ronald van Heerwaarden and other surgeons. Professor Wilson explained my options really clearly, gave me the reasons why and facts and figures. The whole team is efficient, informative and they respond very quickly to any questions. For example, the X-ray system – you have an X-ray and have the results from Professor Wilson 10 minutes later. I would highly recommend them and have no regrets with going ahead with the surgery.” 

Jason gives an update in June 2021: “Finally got my first cycle in yesterday! Really pleased to have survived 80k and about 3hrs on the bike. Still very pleased with how my recovery is going and appreciative of the work Adrian and colleagues have done.”