Whenever my daughter brings her young baby to the doctor for a check-up, the doctor grabs the boy's legs and it looks like he's trying to push the hip in while he pushes the knee out. Why on earth is he doing that?
Well baby check-ups are an important part of your grandchild's healthcare. These are the times when doctors may be able to pick up on disorders or problems that may otherwise be missed if the child is only being seen when he is sick. One of the problems that doctors look for in young children is a hip problem called developmental dysplasia of the hip. Children who have this problem may dislocate their hips easily and/or develop hip pain and arthritis as early as their teens. If the dysplasia is found when the child is young, there are some treatments that may help stabilize the hip, such as using a special harness to hold the hip in proper position. It may seem that the doctor is being rough, but what he is doing is seeing how far the hip can move before he meets resistance. If it moves too much, this could mean that the baby has hip dysplasia.
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