The baby's right leg is thicker than the left leg

After a child is born, he or she needs careful care from his or her parents, and the baby's growth should be carefully observed. Some parents may find that the baby's right leg is thicker than the left leg. Why is this? In this case, you need to go to the hospital for a check-up to see if you have symptoms of congenital hip dislocation. This is a relatively important examination. Once the problem is discovered, the younger the age, the more obvious the treatment effect will be and the faster the recovery will be.

1. Why is the baby's right leg thicker than the left leg?

It is best to go to the hospital for a check-up to rule out whether it is congenital hip dislocation. Don't worry too much about this problem and take appropriate treatment measures based on the examination results. Ensure the healthy growth of children.

Treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip

1. Conservative treatment

The theoretical basis of conservative treatment is Harris's law, which states that head and acetabulum concentricity is the basic condition for hip joint development. In order to achieve stability of the hip joint after reduction, the following conditions must be met: ① Choose a posture that maintains hip joint stability. The traditional frog position is the most ideal posture, but it is not conducive to blood supply to the femoral head. ② Choose a brace, splint or plaster fixation according to the different ages of the patients. It should be stable, comfortable, convenient, and easy to manage urine and stool. It is best to keep the hip joint properly active. ③ Choose the most suitable age for hip joint development. The younger the better, generally under 3 years old. ④ The head and acetabulum should be proportional. If the proportion is unbalanced, the stability of the hip joint cannot be maintained, and even treatment failure may occur. ⑤ Maintain reduction for a certain period of time to allow the joint capsule to shrink back to nearly normal and prevent dislocation after the fixation is removed. It usually takes 3 to 6 months. The younger the patient is, the shorter the fixation time will be.

2. Surgery

(1) Salter pelvic osteotomy In addition to repositioning the femoral head, the Salter operation mainly changes the abnormal acetabulum direction to a normal physiological direction, relatively increases the acetabulum depth, and makes the femoral head and acetabulum concentric. This surgery can be used for patients aged 1 to 6 years with hip dislocation, including those who have failed manual reduction.

(2) Pemberton acetabuloplasty is a procedure that involves osteotomy 1 to 1.5 cm above the superior rim of the acetabulum parallel to the acetabular roof slope, prying the acetabular end upward and changing the inclination of the acetabular roof, allowing the acetabulum to fully encompass the femoral head and allowing the acetabulum to achieve a normal shape. This procedure can be used for patients over 7 years old or under 6 years old with an acetabular index greater than 46°.

(3) Femoral rotation osteotomy and femoral shortening osteotomy Femoral rotation osteotomy is suitable for patients with an anteversion angle of 45° to 60° or more and should be performed at the same time as the above-mentioned surgery. Generally, osteotomy is performed below the lesser trochanter, usually with a wire saw. After osteotomy, the proximal osteotomy end is internally rotated or the distal osteotomy end is externally rotated and fixed with a 4-hole steel plate, but care should be taken not to over-correct. Femoral shortening osteotomy is suitable for older patients with grade III dislocation, especially those with inadequate traction before surgery. Osteotomy is also performed under the lesser trochanter, shortening the femur by about 2 cm. It can also correct excessive anteversion at the same time, and then fix it with a 4-hole steel plate.