The main goal of this paper is to give a clear explanation and define such medical term as “hip dysplasia”, speak about its diagnosis and prognosis and ways of detecting. Though this disease affects not only humans but also animals (especially dogs), only human hip dysplasia will be discussed in this paper.
This term is often used to describe health problems of human beings connected with wrong formation of the hip joint. Hip dysplasia, also known as hip dislocation, has several types, such as Congenital hip dislocation, Congenital dislocatable hip and Developmental dysplasia of hip. More often hip dysplasia can be found in newborn babies or very young children. However, there are some cases when the disease is not detected in time. Because there are several types of hip dysplasia this work will also discuss peculiarities of each type and differences between them.
The first point of hip dysplasia that is necessary to discuss is the definition of this term and short history of it. According to Webster’s dictionary dysplasia is defined as abnormal growth or development, that’s why hip dysplasia is an abnormal development of hip, which causes instability of hip joint and dislocation of the thigh bone from the socket in the pelvis [1]. Usually this disease is innate, though recent researches have shown that it develops during the first weeks - months and sometimes year of life. That’s why it has been called developmental hip dysplasia. According to historical evidences hip dysplasia was known as early as the time of Hippocrates. Nowadays there are two types of hip dysplasia known in medicine congenital dysplasia and developmental dysplasia.
So, what is hip dysplasia? According to medical researches displasia is a result of abnormal development of the hip when the relationship between the thigh bone, called femur, and shallow socket, called acetabulum is disrupted. Acetabulum is the large cup-shaped cavity at the junction of pelvis and femur [1]. Because of this disruption neither femur nor acetabulum develops in a proper way. Before a baby is born its hip must be developed in a way in which femur is located right in the center of acetabulum, in its turn acetabulum must cover the head of femur. In cases of hip dysplasia wrong development of the acetabulum makes femoral head ride in an upward direction out of the joint socket. This is especially noticed when a certain weight is put on the hip [3]. In the event when a baby was born healthy and had no hip displasia there’s a possibility of getting developmental hip displasia during the next six weeks of baby’s life, which are considered to be a critical period for hip joint formation. That’s why it’s very important to hold a proper examination in order to identify the disease or a possibility of getting it in future.
