With her legs up as she gently sleeps or watches a show on a tablet in her crib, the charming Athena Phillips makes the laborious traction process look like child’s play.
The little girl was born with a serious hip condition that would have left her unable to walk without treatment.
Now eight years old – and after the traction, two surgeries and some unusual casts to help her heal – she’s a little dynamo who loves to rip around and play sports at home.
Her mother, Alexa Phillips, said: “You worry so much throughout the pregnancy that when something happens it blinds you. Athena’s condition was extreme and it is not very common for both hips to be affected.
‘When she took her first steps it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was breathtaking.’
Athena Phillips was born with a serious hip condition that would have left her unable to walk without treatment
Athena’s mother, Alexa, has written a book, Athena’s Magic Pants, to help other children diagnosed with the condition and their families
Athena was one day old in April 2015 when a physical examination at Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire revealed a slight clicking in one of her hips.
Further tests confirmed that she had the most severe form of developmental dysplasia, a congenital condition in which the hip socket is too shallow to hold the bulbous head of the femur in place, preventing the leg from developing properly.
In one in a thousand newborns, the condition is so serious that surgery is required. But having it in both hips only occurs once in 10,000 births.
Athena was referred to University Hospital Southampton, a world center of excellence for hip dysplasia, because without treatment she would have grown up in increasing pain, hampered by a severe limp and struggling with any physical activity or sport.
“It’s quite shocking for any mother in this situation, but the staff were very helpful,” said Mrs Phillips, an English teacher from Ringwood, Hampshire.
Initially, doctors decided to use a Pavlik harness, a type of soft splint that keeps the hips and knees bent and the thighs spread apart.
But after ten days she developed femoral nerve palsy, an extremely rare event in which the nerve becomes pinched and causes loss of movement.
The harness treatment had to be stopped and the decision was made to operate – although each leg would have to be treated separately.
Before the procedures, Athena spent time in traction, holding her legs at a 90-degree angle in the air for seven days.
Athena said: ‘I am very happy that children can read my book. I want it to help them not worry. I hope their magic pants work like mine.”
Developmental dysplasia is a rare condition in which the acetabulum is too shallow to hold the bulbous head of the femur in place, preventing the leg from developing properly
Doctors decided to use a Pavlik harness, a type of soft splint that keeps the hips and knees bent and spreads the thighs apart
This relaxed the leg muscles and pulled them into a better position for surgery, as they had been deformed by the hip dislocations.
‘The surgeons called it gallows traction, which sounds a bit scary. I preferred to call her my ‘trapeze baby,'” Ms. Phillips, 40, said.
Athena underwent her first surgery on March 3, 2016: a two-hour procedure in which an incision was made in the right hip to open the joint and allow the ball of the hip to fit back into its socket.
She was then placed in a cast that covered both legs, the waist and the abdomen to hold the recovering joint in the correct position and became known as ‘Athena’s magic trousers’.
The cast had to be removed under a new general anesthetic on April 19 and Athena was able to celebrate her first birthday two days later before undergoing the procedure on her left leg on May 3, followed by another period in a cast.
This was removed on June 14 and replaced with a ‘broomstick’ cast, again to keep the legs apart and as immobile as possible to aid healing.
Athena had her first surgery on March 3, 2016, a procedure in which an incision was made in the right hip to open the joint and allow the ball of the hip to fit back into its socket.
‘It was an absolutely blinding transformation. Now Athena was into paddle boarding, tree climbing, wall climbing – she’s so physical,” said Athena’s mother
The cast was removed on July 19, and Athena delivered a belated Christmas present on December 31 of that year, when she took her first steps.
‘It was an absolutely blinding transformation. Now Athena loved paddle boarding, tree climbing and wall climbing – she is so physical,” said mother-of-one Mrs Phillips.
“She was able to become who she should have been because of the freedoms the surgeons brought her.”
The treatment was led by pediatric orthopedic surgeon Alex Aarvold, who joined University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust the year Harry Potter fan Athena – who calls him ‘smarter than Dumbledore’ – was born.
He said: ‘Athena is doing fantastic and it’s so nice to see her running around normally.
‘Without this treatment, she would be limping, in increasing pain and limited in all these activities that she is now good at.’
Athena still gets annual checkups, but seems ready to enjoy life to the fullest.
Mrs Phillips – who has written a book, Athena’s Magic Pants, to help other children with the condition and their families – added: ‘My advice to other parents is that everything will be fine. Trust the (medical) team, because they have you and your baby. Trust the process.”
Athena added: ‘I am very happy that children can read my book. I want it to help them not worry. I hope their magic pants work like mine.”