Congenital dislocation of the hip

[berolina]

Anyone else had this?
I had several operations for it as a baby and small child, including directly on the hip joint, having a metal plate put in and taken out later - but I don't really know much about it (and can't ask my parents as things are, er, difficult ). Have one scar directly on the joint between thigh and tummy and another down the outside of my thigh. Only remember having the stitches out on the thigh one when I was about 4 - the rest is a haze. Because of one leg being shorter than the other due to this and not having any corrective treatment I've developed scoliosis, but mercifully haven't really suffered with back pain so far (I'm 27). Has anyone/their children had this and knows a bit more about it, what probably happened during the operations etc. and can fill me in? I'd be particularly interested in any info on how it affects pregnancy - can operations like that cause a weak cervix (I detest the term 'incompetence')? Anyone have any problems as their bump grew? Thanks for any experiences.

My fifth child had CDH - her leg came right out of its socket (yuck) when the paediatrician did the standard newborn check. Her CDH came from being breech and possibly a family history (DH had CDH, which was treated with double nappies).

She saw an orthopaedic surgeon when she was about 3 weeks old. The registrar thought that she needed a sling, but the consultant was fairly adament that everything would heal by itself. So we did nothing.

She had ultrasound at around 10 weeks with inconclusive results. This was followed up with another session about 6 weeks later when she was given the all clear.

It sounds like your CDH, berolina, did not heal by itself and was undiagnosed until there was no chance of an easy solution (sling or double nappies). I don't think there is any reason for this to happen with the kind of newborn checks that take place nowadays. With your history of CDH, you can expect that the medics will be extra vigilant, as it is something that runs in families.

My dd has this (the rest of the ladies on my side, ie me, my mum and my gran, all had clicky hips but nothing was done about ours as they didn't dislocate, but they have resulted in replacement ops for my Gran and Mum, so guess I'm next... but my dd was born with hers out) I found a really useful site in the USA
www.hip-baby.org which covers a lot of the issues for when babies are young, might be worth a look, as far as I'm aware it won't affect pregnancy, but then dd didn't need the op, the Pavlik Harness has gotten her ok, so far, although we're not discharged yet.

my dd was diagnosed at birth, she was a breech baby too...
in her first pavlic harness at 2 weeks old but this was deemed to be unsuccessful and she had a closed hip reduction aged 4 months under a general anaesthetic and was in a full hip spica cast until 12 months followed by another half plastic cast for another couple of months...she also has one leg shorter(apparently it doesn't always go hand in hand)and this will be monitored as she gets older...
hope that helps, i know there have been other threads about this-try searching in the archives
good luck

Thanks all of you. I didn't really realise it must have been severe - have no memory of almost all of it and have normal mobility, no pain etc.
chatee, if the leg length discrepancy remains, make sure she gets assessed for having additions/insteps to her shoes to balance this out. Nobody told me about this possibility until I was about 20 and whether it was actually the root cause of my scoliosis or not, it certainly didn't help it. They don't look ugly - they make them in the colour of your shoes' soles. Snce I've had them I (5'1") have actually really appreciated the little bit of extra height!

further experiences very, very welcome!

Berolina.

I had congenital hip dislocation, caused by severly malformed hip joints, left much worse than right.

Like you I had a number of ops as a child, plate in left thigh (8 screws in mine, permanent) etc.

My left leg was 2 inches shorter than the other, so I too have scoliosis, twisted spine as well as curved.

I had my son when I was 38. I had no probs with the pregnancy, I don't know of any history of such following this type of surgery.
I opted for an elective ceaserian, because I worried about whether my abnormal hips might have probs thru labour. I also realised that my pelvis isn't level, so it's highly unlikely that baby could ever have engaged. I think he'd still have been there now (5 years later) .

My history is pretty severe, but if you want any more background, talk about preg, on anything, I'm more than happy to.

Contact me thru Contact Another Talker at the top of this page if you like.

Thank you Easy, will do.
Funnily enough when I had a foot pressure measurement thingy a while back (basically to see what effect the scoliosis is having and whether insteps etc are helping) the guy carrying it out (not a doctor) dropped hints that I wouldn't be able to have a vaginal birth should I get pg... but then realised he wasn't allowed to give me advice about it and clammed up - frustrating. But that's definitely something I need to talk to my gyn about.

berolina, whether or not you can give birth vaginally will depend on a number of factors- whether the shape of the internal surface of the pelvis is normal for one thing, and whether your "bad" hip could cope with all the pushing for another. You may have no problems at all...CDH does not cause any problems with the cervix as far as I know; they are not connected anatomically, even if they are quite close to each other!

One thought though, if you are planning a pregnancy, it would be worth having an up-to-date Xray of your pelvis taken before you get pregnant, so that your obstetrician can assess your chances of vaginal delivery. Obviously, they don't like to Xray you during pregnancy, and if your surgery was many years ago, the Xrays may have been destroyed (our hospital destroys Xrays that are unused after 7 years).

HTH

I didn't have CDH, but a condition which required similar treatment, bilateral osteotomies. Had plates in both legs which were removed at 16 and further ops at age 21 & 22. Had 2 pregnancies (DS was 9lb 6oz) with absolutely no joint problems - in fact it loosened the whole joints up. Am awaiting further treatment - maybe another pregnancy would cure it again?