A person with hip dysplasia has a hip socket that doesn’t fully cover the ball portion of the upper thigh bone. This means the hip joint can easily become partially or even fully dislocated. Typically, people with the condition were born with it, and it definitely can cause problems later in life, like a limp or other more serious problems. Sometimes, hip dysplasia might not be problematic until teenage hood or young adulthood.

Hip dysplasia can damage the cartilage that lines the joint (osteoarthritis) or damage the soft cartilage that rims the socket portion of the hip joint (a labral tear). Also, hip dysplasia makes a person much more susceptible to a partial or full dislocation of the hip. For such reasons, it’s important to address the condition as early as possible, and this is why doctors check for the condition right after birth and even again after that.

A teenager, young adult, or adult with hip dysplasia may have significant pain, possibly due to osteoarthritis or a hip labral tear, and the pain may be accompanied by pain in the groin too. The treatment for someone like this is typically surgery. Before a patient gets their surgery done, they may be able to relieve their pain (like arthritis pain) by using a cane to walk, taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), getting physical therapy, doing water exercise classes, and/or losing weight. To be safe, speak with a professional before you proceed with addressing your pain, and please remember professional treatment is necessary.

The best treatment for patients younger than 50 (but not infants) may be hip preservation surgery. It may be possible to relieve hip dysplasia pain for a while, but surgery may still be the best treatment. This is because, without surgery, the joint will just deteriorate more and more. It may be that surgery is the best or even the only option for you. Speak with a hip dysplasia specialist about how to proceed.

The best treatment for hip dysplasia in an infant is typically a soft brace like a Pavlik harness which holds the ball portion of the joint in its socket until the socket molds to the shape of the ball. For babies older than six, a doctor can move the bones into their proper position and apply a body cast to hold them there until they’ll stay by themselves.

To learn more about hip dysplasia, treatment, and seeing a specialist, connect with us here at The Orthopedic Group! We’d be happy to hear from you for any reason.

We likely do! The Orthopedic Group has a specialist who can help at any one of our locations in Leesburg, Lansdowne, or Stone Springs. Please see our Locations page for the clinic location in your area, its address, and its phone number, then call us at that location if you believe you or a loved one may need our care. You can book a consultation with us from that page. We serve patients from Leesburg VA, Lansdowne VA, Stone Springs VA, Dulles, VA, Ashburn VA, Sterling VA, Aldie VA, South Riding VA, Herndon VA, Winchester VA, Reston VA, and Chantilly VA.

If you, your child, or someone else you care about needs us for hip dysplasia care, don’t hesitate to reach out today. We look forward to hearing from you soon!