15 Nov Been told that your baby 👶🏻has “Clicky Hips” or Developmental Dysplasia of the Hips

Had a hip ultrasound scan for your baby at 6 weeks but no one has told you what to do about it
Is your child now 2 years old and walking with a waddle

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) means that the hip joint of a newborn baby is dislocated or prone to dislocation. Approximately 1 in every 600 girls is affected, compared to just 1 in 3,000 boys. The left hip is affected 3 times more often than the right hip. Dislocation of both hips is NOT uncommon. 1/3 of babies with DDH have a family history of DDH. DDH is also more common in babies born with particular disorders, including cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Around 95 per cent of babies born with DDH can be successfully treated. Early detection and Early Intervention is crucial. The best outcomes for DDH occurs when baby is treated under 12 weeks old using a Pavlik Harness which is monitored and managed by an experienced Expert Paediatric Physiotherapist. 

Unfortunately, sometimes a child isn’t diagnosed with DDH until they are 2 or 3 years of age when parents notice that their child is walking with a waddle, or has one hip lower than the other, or has a limp, or walking on tiptoe on one leg. Complications of untreated DDH in an older child may include stability problems with the knee joints and injury to nerves supplying the thigh bone. Often at that late stage, the child will require surgery to try to correct the hip joint. 

So if you have been told that your baby has clicky hips or needed a hip ultrasound at 6 weeks old, don’t leave it thinking that if there was a problem the hospital will ring you! Often the radiology department does not contact the Orthopaedic or Physiotherapy departments to inform them of the results. Everyone assumes someone else will follow up. At the end no one does, and baby grows up with a dislocated hip joint which is only discovered at 2-3 years old. Instead, ring My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 and speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists to have your baby’s hips assessed today!or DM us at @myfavouritephysio.