Adolescent services

Services for teenagers and young adults

A range of outpatient clinics and services across the HCA UK network

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HCA UK Booking Line:

020 7079 4344

About services for adolescents at HCA UK

We offer a breadth of adolescent health services across our paediatric facilities.

We can diagnose and treat a range of conditions affecting your teenager, from the everyday to the most acute or complex. That includes everything from sports injuries and fractures to developmental disorders.

Headed up by some of the UK’s leading consultants, our expert teams have extensive experience of working with children across a range of medical conditions. Together, they bring real insight to the developmental needs and issues teenagers face.

Our teams work with compassion and sensitivity, aiming to ensure our patients and their families feel comfortable, safe and reassured at every visit.

Many of our consultants hold prominent positions at London's top teaching hospitals, with young patients travelling from across the UK as well as overseas to be treated by them.

Inflammation and stress injuries

The main symptoms of inflamed joints are pain and swelling. Symptoms can also come from inflamed structures around the joints such as the muscle, soft tissue and tendons.

Knee and foot pain injuries generally present as anterior knee or achilles pain:

  • Osgood-Schlatter disease: A condition that causes pain and swelling below the knee joint.
  • Sinding-Larsen-Johansson Syndrome: Pain at the bottom of the kneecap (patella). It is caused by swelling and irritation of the growth plate there.
  • Sever’s disease: A condition of the heel that occurs in growing children. It happens when the achilles tendon that attaches to the back of the heel pulls on the growth plate of the heel bone.

We offer MRI or ultrasound scans to examine joints and the surrounding soft tissue. These scans will help your consultant choose the best treatment options.

Bone stress injuries and fractures

Stress fractures usually happen from repeating the same movement, such as when someone intensively trains for a sport, or from everyday activities due to a medical condition or even poor nutrition. They include:

  • Common sports injuries such as hairline cracks in the bones, usually in the lower leg and feet
  • Caused by repeated shock and overload from, for example, running on hard surfaces or certain exercises such as gymnastics, tennis, dance and athletics
  • If pain is felt during exercise, we can screen for stress fractures

Medical tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is commonly called ‘shin splints’. This is an encompassing term to explain pain on exercise, rather than diagnosis.

  • MTSS is an overuse injury or repetitive-stress injury of the shin area
  • There are many risk factors for MTSS, with no one factor regularly to blame
  • Although often not serious, it can be quite disabling and can progress to more serious complications if not treated properly

Seeking medical help is an important first step as other conditions must be excluded first.

Hip, knee, other joint or bone pain

We treat teenagers of all ages from 12 to 18 years, of all activity levels, from high-performance future sports athletes to teenagers with weekend hobbies.

Our specialist London Ligament Repair Unit at The Portland Hospital is dedicated solely to the diagnosis and management of knee ligament injuries in children and young people.

Biomechanics with knees and lower limbs injuries

Biomechanics looks at how your bones, muscles and joints work together to help movement.

We can assess a range of movement and balance, around the area and joint, including the way your child walks or runs (gait) and their posture.

Ankle and knee follow-up appointments post urgent care

When too much force is applied to a ligament, it can become injured or torn. This makes the joint unstable.

General symptoms are:
  • A popping or snapping sound at the time of injury
  • Pain
  • Rapid onset of swelling
  • A feeling of instability or unsteadiness after the injury
  • Knee stiffness

We offer follow-up appointments from urgent care services (whether NHS or private facilities) for ankle and knee ligament injuries. Your child can be seen at various outpatient locations and at The Portland Hospital. Please see our list of locations at the bottom of this page.

We're proud to have leading orthopaedic experts specialising in ligament injuries in the knee or ankle. The skills of our professionals are fully matched by their integrity and compassion.

Scoliosis and spinal conditions

Based at The Portland Hospital, the Scoliosis and Spinal Surgery Centre is lead by four renowned spinal surgeons all of whom hold senior clinical consultant posts at GOSH and the Evelina Children’s Hospital.

We diagnose and treat children for all spinal and congenital conditions with individually tailored treatments. Read Millie’s story to find out more.

We can assess a range of movement and balance around the area and joints, including the way your child walks or runs (gait) and their posture.

Hormonal imbalances and energy deficiency

Our paediatric endocrine consultants treat children and adolescents of all ages who have hormone conditions. These conditions may affect their growth, development or metabolism.

Relative energy deficiency is where the body is not taking in enough energy to meet the demands, especially with the amount of exercise being performed.

  • The condition of low energy availability affects all levels of adolescents
  • Restricted eating and overtraining may put adolescents at risk of developing RED-S
  • Energy deficiency can result in endocrine changes that need to be assessed and addressed

With comprehensive diagnostic screening services, we focus on early detection so we can deliver a fully individualised course of treatment.

Dermatology

Our experienced skin care experts diagnose and treat a full range of problems such as acne and infections, as well as inflammatory skin diseases like rosacea, eczema and psoriasis.

Whether you are concerned about worsening your teenagers skin complaints, you've noticed an unusual rash or mole, or hope to improve the appearance of a scar or a birthmark, we offer expert care.

Concussion services at the ISEH

Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury which occurs after sustaining an injury to the head, through accidents or falls. It’s not uncommon for young sports people to receive a head injury during training or a competition. 

Concussion may or may not be accompanied by a loss of consciousness. And it may result in a child feeling sleepy, confused, suffering visual problems or more, so it’s important to get it check out.

Our partners at the Institute of Sport and Exercise Health (ISEH) run a world-leading, one-stop concussion clinic for amateur and professional athletes, including adolescents. The ISEH excels in resolving complex cases.

To make an appointment contact +44 (0)20 3447 2800 or visit ISEH for more details

Dedicated Urgent Care Centre based at The Portland Hospital

Our Urgent Care Centre is open as an appointment only service, however we ensure to see you quickly for yours or your child’s acute health concern at a time that suits you.

To book an appointment, please call 020 7390 6150

Our locations

Find us in the various locations for the treatment of adolescent health conditions:

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Our team can help with any enquiries or you can make an appointment with one of our experienced consultants.

Call us today

020 7079 4344
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