Watch the procedures Mr Balakumar performs, explained through surgical footage and patient education content.
Mr Jit Balakumar is a highly trained orthopaedic surgeon with expertise in lower limb surgery, focusing on joint preservation and joint replacement procedures of the hip and knee. His clinical work includes hip arthroscopy, osteotomies, impingement surgery, direct anterior hip replacement, hip resurfacing and knee replacement.
(03) 9573 9659
Mr Balakumar completed his orthopaedic training in Victoria, followed by a trauma fellowship at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and a diploma and fellowship in hip and knee surgery at Paris V University in France.
In 2008, he was accepted into the paediatric surgery fellowship at Harvard’s Children’s Hospital in Boston. This American-accredited programme rarely accepts foreign-trained surgeons, who must first pass the American medical examinations to be considered. During this fellowship, Mr Balakumar trained under some of the world’s leading specialists in hip preservation, paediatric orthopaedics and sports medicine, developing expertise in joint preservation surgery across paediatric, adolescent and adult populations.
His mentors include Mr Ian Torode, Dr John Emans, Dr Mike Millis, Dr Young Jo Kim and Dr Michel Bercovy, all internationally recognised as leaders in their fields.
This combination of paediatric and adult training is uncommon. It allows Mr Balakumar to manage hip conditions from infancy through to end-stage arthritis in the same patient, and to offer the full range of treatment options from bracing in infants to total joint replacement in adults.
1998: MBBS, Monash University
2006: FRACS (Orthopaedic Surgery), Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
2008: Diploma in Knee Surgery, Paris V University, Paris, France
ECFMG: (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, USA)
2006-2007: Adult Trauma Fellowship, Royal Melbourne Hospital
2008: Sports Knee Surgery Fellowship, Paris V University, France
2008-2009: Paediatric Surgery Fellowship, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard University
2009: Observership, Stedman Hawkins Sports Medicine Clinic, Vail, Colorado, USA
Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA)
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
Paediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA)
Australian Paediatric Orthopaedic Society (APOS)
Int. Society of Hip Arthroscopy and Preservation (ISHA)
Alumni, Harvard Children’s Hospital Boston
Hip and knee conditions affect people at every stage of life, from a hip abnormality detected at birth through to advanced arthritis in a patient in their 70s. Mr Balakumar is one of the few orthopaedic surgeons in Australia with formal training in both paediatric and adult hip surgery, giving him the clinical breadth to manage a condition across an entire lifetime in the same patient.
His approach is grounded in a simple principle: surgery is offered when the clinical picture clearly supports it, and not before. Every patient receives a thorough assessment, an honest account of all options, and enough time to ask the questions that matter to them.
(03) 9573 9659
Mr Balakumar has published peer-reviewed research in orthopaedic surgery, including a co-authored paper in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research examining outcomes of the Bernese periacetabular osteotomy in males, produced during his time at Harvard’s Children’s Hospital Boston.
He has run a fellowship programme in Melbourne for over 10 years, training surgeons now working at leading institutions around the world. He presents at national and international conferences, collaborates with radiologists at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne on advanced cartilage mapping techniques, and actively teaches orthopaedic surgeons, trainees and medical students.
Melbourne Orthopaedic Group is home to a team of experienced orthopaedic surgeons, providing comprehensive care for sports injuries and orthopaedic conditions. Whether it’s joint replacement or sports injuries, our specialists provide comprehensive orthopaedic care.
