Definitions

In some children, whose femoral head is not sufficiently round and where it will not centre deeply in the socket in abduction (outward movement of the leg), varus osteotomy is inappropriate, as is pelvic osteotomy.

In these patients where movement is limited and where the surgeon appreciates that the remodelled head will be significantly out of round, a valgus osteotomy can restore movement, restore leg length and generally improve the function of the hip.

This is a corrective osteotomy where the neck shaft angle is returned to normal. A blade plate, with one part seated into the neck of the femur and the side plate on the outside of the femur is used to provide the necessary angular correction.

Patella Alta
In patella alta the kneecap rides too high up on the femur (thigh bone). This happens in quite a few people and may never do any harm. However, at the higher end of the thigh bone the groove in which the patellar slides is much shallower than it is in the normal position, so people with patella alta are more likely to dislocate their kneecaps.

There is a nifty animation here: http://www.carletonsportsmed.com/Pat_alta/patella_alta.htm

The Patella is commonly called the kneecap. It sits in a groove at the front (anterior) of the knee.

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome is a broad term describing all chronic pathology related to the anterior knee. Sometimes it is called "Runner's Knee"

There is a nice non-medical summary at
http://www.brookssports.com/runners_resource/runners_knee.phtml
(note this is NOT an endorsement, just a link to let know where the information below came from) which has been duplicated below

An Osteotomy, of any kind, is an operation where a bone is cut, usually realigned in some way, and then re-fixed to heal in its new configuration.

Femoral Osteotomies are, as the name suggests, osteotomies carried out on the Femur (thigh bone) to correct a number of conditions.

There are many technical terms used in the treatment of PFFD. Here are some of the more common ones as they relate to PFFD.

This surgical procedure to fuse a joint e.g. the knee. The femur and tibia become then like one long bone.

The joint is permanently fused by removing the cartilage of the joint sufaces and placing bone graft in the joint; the joint can be stabilized using metal implants so that the bone can heal together

Definition

* Arthro= joint
* Desis = fusion of
* Arthrodesis is the fusion of a joint.