CONGENITAL DISLOCATION OF THE HIP The Results of Conservative Treatment

The aim of this study is to assess the early results of conservative treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip and to draw attention to the factors that influence the results. Recently some authorities have suggested that conservative treatment will be abandoned, because it has failed to produce the required results, and that it will be replaced by routine operative treatment (Trevor 1957, Somerville and Scott 1957). We believe that, whereas conservative treatment is seldom successful in children with bilateral dislocation, it can be successful, as judged by early results, in most patients with unilateral dislocation. The main object of this study was to determine whether in unilateral cases the degree of acetabular slope of the opposite hip gave a reliable indication of the prognosis for the dislocated hip. The effect of other factors such as fragmentation of the femoral epiphysis and persistent eccentric reduction was also studied.