28 Dec  Have you been told your baby has clicky hips

 Have you been told your baby has clicky hips
 Been told to put double nappies on baby to help their clicky hips
Or perhaps you’ve been told Not to worry, baby will grow out of the clicky hips

Did you know that clicky hips might be a sign of immature poorly developed hips , a condition known as Developmental Dysplasia of the Hips (DDH). DDH refers to three types of poor hip development – (1) Dislocated Hips, (2) Dislocatable Hips, (3) Subluxable Hips.

(1) Dislocated Hips refers to a hip where the thigh bone is completely outside the Hip Joint. This means that a hip joint is completely not functional and a child cannot stand on the leg to walk. 

(2) Dislocatable Hips refers to the thigh bone popping in and out of the Hip joint. This is often described as a “clicking” sound, hence the term clicky hips. 

(3) Subluxable Hips refers to the Pelvic bone of the hip joint being too shallow and the thigh bone then slides around in the hip joint with a big risk of becoming a Dislocatable Hip. 

If a Dislocated Hip is not detected early, the hip joint does not develop and baby is likely to need major surgery later to create a hip joint. Left untreated, baby will not be able to walk in future. On the other hand, when DDH is detected early, treatment commenced early will allow a normal hip joint to develop and baby will then be able to walk normally. For DDH, the gold standard treatment for optimal hip development is using a Palvik Harness correctly fitted and managed by an Expert Paediatric Physiotherapist. Early intervention refers to treatment commencing within the first 6 weeks of baby’s life. Double nappies does not position the thigh bone correctly in the hip joint to effectively correct DDH.

If you are concerned about your baby having clicky hips, act early, act fast to ensure that you give baby’s hips the best chance to develop normally to allow them a lifetime of good hip health. Ring My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today to find out how we can help your baby’s clicky hips.