To date, the only treatment for OI is proper medical and orthopaedic management of the symptoms. No cure is known, and no drug or vitamin therapy regimen has been uniformly satisfactory. Researchers continue to make progress with these issues.

Orthopaedic surgery is one of the pillars of treatment for patients with OI. Repeated fractures of the same bone, deformity, or fractures that do not heal properly are all indications that surgery may be necessary. Doctors sometimes perform a surgery called rodding to help strengthen long bones against fracture and prevent or correct deformities.

Briefly, this procedure involves straightening the bone and inserting a steel rod through the length of the bone. This procedure is most commonly done in the legs and the arms as needed. Rodding not only corrects bowing (curving) of the bone, but adds an internal support that helps to prevent further fractures.

Some rods are a fixed length and must be replaced as the child grows. Other rods are designed like telescopes so they can expand along with the bone growth. However, other complications may occur with telescoping rods.

The age of the child on which this operation is performed depends greatly on the size of the bones, but it is frequently done on children as young as two or three years old. When considering this option for your child, be sure to discuss the pros and cons of telescoping and non telescoping rods with your orthopaedic surgeon. Keep in mind that rodding is a treatment that must be repeated as the child outgrows or rejects the rods.

Another great broken bone treatment option is metal plates that surgeons can attach to the bone as a protector for the bone. The rod or the plate that is on or in the bone should not be felt. If it is felt, then something is wrong and additional surgery may be needed to provide the best and most successful outcome out of all broken bone treatments currently available.

Doctors sometimes perform surgery to stabilize the spine in cases that could lead to the development of scoliosis. Scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, is a problem for many children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Bracing is the usual treatment for scoliosis, but it is often ineffective in children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Spinal fusion, in which the vertebrae are realigned and fused together, may be recommended to prevent excessive curvature.

Surgery recovery will depend on the patient. The more extensive the surgery, the longer recovery can take. Every individual will react differently to any method of broken bone treatment. The age and amount of activity that the patient does is a factor as well. The younger the patient is and the more activity that individual does, the faster they heal. The older they are and the less activity that they do, longer healing time is required, causing any method of broken bone treatment to not be as successful as it was for them in their younger years.