Coxa breva: its pathogenesis and a rationale for its management

Abstract

Forty-four patients (50 hips) with symptomatic coxa breva underwent surgical treatment consisting of arrest and/or transfer of the "overgrown" greater trochanter. In a retrospective review, the authors compared the patients who underwent apophyseodesis to those treated by trochanteric transfer. The purpose was to clarify the indications for and results of each procedure. Patients less than or equal to 8 years of age benefited from apophyseodesis as a means of averting a Trendelenburg gait. Those patients presenting with an established Trendelenburg limp and those greater than or equal to 9 years of age are best treated by distal and lateral transfer of the greater trochanter.