Finding out your baby may have Hip Dysplasia can be a stressful time for parents. The thought of putting your baby in a harness can be very upsetting. Please share your experiences past or present and help support others going through this tough time.

Developmental Hip Dysplasia affects approximately 1 in 600 girls and 1 in 3000 boys in Australia. It is a condition where the hip joint is dislocated or prone to dislocation, due to either the socket being too shallow or the ligaments being too slack allowing the ball of the joint to fall out of place. The left hip is 3 times more likely to be affected than the right, and bilateral hip dysplasia is not uncommon. There are a number of known causes of hip dysplasia including family history (1/3 of cases have a family history), congenital disorders (eg spina bifida or cerebral palsy), breech delivery or a multiple birth.

Signs that a baby may have Hip Dysplasia can be reduced joint mobility, a low clunking sound when the leg is rotated or an unusually large perineum. If only one hip is affected, some other signs can be that the skin creases of the buttocks don’t match or one knee may look higher than the other. Sometimes diagnosis doesn’t come until later (about 2 or 3 years old), and this is indicated by an unusual waddling gait, a limp, uneven hips or walking on tiptoes.

Approximately 95% of babies born with hip dysplasia can be successfully treated. Treatment for a newborn involves a Pavlik harness which holds the joint in place while the baby's skeleton grows and matures. Subsequent x-rays will track the hip joint's progress. The Pavlik harness is effective in over 85 per cent of cases. Most babies will require the harness for between six and 12 weeks and do not appear to be distressed by its use. Babies diagnosed over 6 months old may require a general anaesthetic to manipulate the hip back into position, and an operation may be required.

Most babies with successfully treated hip dysplasia have no further hip problems later in life, although they may be susceptible to arthritis.


Sourced from The Victorian Government Better Health Channel Website