Patient Stories

Isabella

When my youngest daughter was 2 months old I realized at our most recent pediatric appointment the Doctor never checked her hips for range of motion. Which I knew was protocol for an infant. Realizing such, I decided I would check range of motion myself and suddenly noticed her hips did not move out like they were suppose and the left hip was also clicking. I tried not to worry about it because I knew we had another checkup in the next week and thought I would mention during the exam. The pediatrician asked if I had any concerns, of course I told him about the hips and he said they were fine because they “looked” asymmetrical. He wasn’t bothered by physically moving them until I mentioned a “clicking” sound I had heard. I also noticed she wouldn’t turn her head fully on one side, which we then discovered she had Torticollis. At that appointment we were then referred to a specialty hospital where they discovered Isabella had DDH of the left hip.

I thought my whole world shattered, finding out my baby may have to have surgery. I was angry at the fact that the pediatrician never noticed this and didn’t follow protocol for checking the hips. I was angry that she had to wear a harness that prevented me from being able to hold her. You learn to adapt the harness into your lifestyle and after the baby gets used to it. After all of the long drives, numerous visits and sleepless nights we are finally starting to make progress with the acetabular angle. Isabella is 6 months old now and we are no where near being out of the harness completely but we are farther than we were. I’m thankful I was proactive and we were able to treat this early rather than wait until later when she would have to have surgery per the Orthopedic doctor.