The health professional examining your child for
developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) will look
for:
- Folds of skin on your baby's thighs or buttocks
that are not the same on both sides.
- One leg that is shorter than
the other.
- A limp or waddling gait when your child
walks.
- A difference in the motion of one hip compared to the
other.
- A greater-than-normal inward curve (lordosis) of the lower
back (lumbar area) when your child stands, which may indicate DDH in both hip
joints.
- Other physical defects of your child's legs or feet.
The health professional will move your baby's hip joints one at a
time and feel for any looseness or displacement of the joint. The health
professional is checking for:
- A dislocated hip, in which the ball at the top of
the thighbone (femoral head) is completely out of the hip socket.
- A
dislocatable hip, in which the hip joint becomes dislocated if the hip is moved
in a certain way.
- An unstable hip, in which the head of the femur
fits only loosely into the hip socket, not firmly or securely. The femur may
move within the socket or in and out of the socket so that it is partly
dislocated.
If your child's hip joint is dislocated or can be dislocated easily
by moving it in a certain way, often a distinct sensation (a "clunk") can be
felt when the femoral head moves into or out of the hip socket.
