Hip Dysplasia

Hip dysplasia is a health condition that happens when the bones in your hip joint don’t fit together correctly.

Hip dysplasia is most common in babies and young children, but in mild cases, it first shows up in adults. Healthcare providers sometimes refer to hip dysplasia that children are born with as congenital hip dysplasia or developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). These are all different names for the same condition.

A joint is a place in your body where two bones meet. Your hip joint is a connection point between your thigh bone (femur) and your hip bone (pelvis).

If you have hip dysplasia, your femur doesn’t fit into your pelvis correctly. Specifically, the round ball at the top of your femur (the femoral head) doesn’t line up properly with the curved socket in your pelvis that it should fit into (the acetabulum).

This poor fit can damage the cartilage that cushions your joint. In addition to symptoms like pain and stiffness, people with hip dysplasia are more likely to experience hip dislocations.

Visit a healthcare provider if you’re experiencing hip pain that doesn’t get better in a few days. See a provider if it seems like your baby is in pain or if one of their legs looks noticeably different from the other.

How common is hip dysplasia?

1 in every 1,000 babies born in the U.S. each year has hip dysplasia.