The effects of therapeutic exercises and education to parents on weight bearing, range of motion, joint stability, and disease complications in 4-10-year-old children with congenital hip dysplasia

Late diagnosis and treatment of congenital hip dysplasia (CHD) can cause many problems in a person's daily life.  
Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate and compare the effect of therapeutic exercises and education on parents’ weight bearing, range of motion, joint stability, and disease complications in 4-10-year-old children with congenital hip dysplasia.
This semi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test and post-test design on 40 children with CHD in two groups of 20 people: therapeutic exercises and education. The training program of the therapeutic exercises group was done on a middle day for 8 weeks from 60 to 90 min in each session. Also in the training group, parents were taught about the correct methods of sitting, standing, and lying down. Before and after the intervention, the subjects were evaluated by the researcher in terms of performance indicators. These indicators were evaluated with specialized tests (weight bearing with standing flexion test, range of motion with stork test, and joint stability with sitting test). The analysis of variance was used to compare the differences between groups in terms of the effect on the indicators.
Based on the findings, the difference between the two groups of therapeutic exercises and education to parents was significant in weight-bearing and range of motion (P=0.000 and P=0.000), but in hip joint stability and disease complications, no significant difference was observed (P=0.269 and P=0.163).
Considering the greater effectiveness of the therapeutic exercises, it is suggested to design a codified program in the physical education program of U10 children to correct skeletal abnormalities, especially hip dysplasia.