7-year-old Joos fell on the playground at school leaving him with a double arm fracture. After his arm healed and the cast was removed, his arm was completely crooked and his arm was not functioning the way it should: suddenly he could not do some of his favorite things such as summersaults or handstands.
Their doctor and physical therapist told them that there was nothing more they could do, yet Joos’s parents continued to look for a way to fix their son’s arm, and found Dr. Frederik Verstreken (Monica Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium). Dr. Verstreken recommended to do an osteotomy, which would take out a portion of Joos’s bone and allow it to be straightened back to the way it once was. However, this result could not been achieved with conventional techniques.
To set Joos’s arm back to normal, a novel technology needed to be used: Materialise’s surgical planning solutions and Mobelife’s custom-made implants, the parents understood this to be the only option to get their son’s arm functionality back and agreed with the doctor’s advice. As a result of strengthening the bone, Joos could feel his fingers, a sensation he had not felt for the previous 6 months, and is getting back to his old habits of being an active young child. Joos’s story is recounted in the video below:
The result of the surgery exceeded the mother’s expectations. Joos can no longer tell which arm he had surgery on without looking for the scar on his arm. “I had a child with a handicap, now he’s a normally functioning boy,” she testifies.