Congenital dislocation of the hip in children. Comparison of the effects of femoral shortening and of skeletal traction in treatment

Preoperative skeletal traction as an aid in reduction of congenital hip dislocation in the older child has been associated with an unacceptably high incidence of avascular necrosis, redislocation, and poor results. In contrast, femoral shortening as an aid in reduction has yielded a high rate of very satisfactory results, and may be essential for obtaining a stable, physiological, non-compressive reduction. We have analyzed the complications and the radiographic and functional outcomes of treatment in thirty-nine hips. It was clearly demonstrated that femoral diaphyseal shortening was preferable to traction as an aid in the operative reduction of a congenitally dislocated hip in children who were more than three years old.