What are clicky hips?
The medical name for clicky hips is congenital dislocation of the hips (CDH). The hip is made up of a ball, formed by the end of the thighbone (femur) and socket joint, formed by the pelvis. If the socket is not properly formed, the ball tends to slip out or dislocate, making a slight click when the hip is moved. Clicky hips are often inherited, and girls are affected more than boys. What causes clicky hips? ‘Nobody knows why it happens — there seem to be several reasons,’ says Nicholas Clarke, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Southampton General Hospital. He explains that CDH is more common in breech babies and babies who have been tightly squashed in the uterus due to lack of space. For this reason, it’s more common in first-born babies as the uterus tends to be tighter the first time around. It is also more common in girls, due to the female hormones which can cause the joint to be more lax. CDH also tends to run in families. So if one girl in the family has CDH, the chances are t
