Congenital dislocation of the hip. Incidence, and treatment of a local population group

Abstract

For a period of three months, the incidence of hip abnormality was determined in 450 consecutive deliveries at the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Hospital newborn nursery. Three children were found to have dislocatable hips, and received treatment with a von Rosen splint. In 60 babies, soft tissue clicks could be elicited but the joints were stable. These babies received no treatment, but were reassessed one and six weeks later. No hip abnormality was detected in any of them at the follow-up examination. A retrospective analysis of the records of the previous 450 newborn babies showed that nine had received treatment with double nappies; von Rosen splints had not been used. At the six-month follow-up examination, one of these nine babies had a dislocated hip. "Double nappies" as a treatment modality is still widely practised in Sydney, though neither the literature nor the results of our retrospective analysis support its efficacy.