My nephew was born with a hip dysplasia on the left hip, but his doctor keeps checking his right hip too. I thought it was to compare them, but his mom tells me it’s to see if he has the same problem on both sides. Wouldn’t they know that by now?

Many children are born with a hip dysplasia, especially on the left side. It seems to be more common on that side for some reason.

Doctors have noticed that many children who have a dysplasia on one side, also have one on the contralateral or other hip as well, albeit very mild or moderate. The issue is, they don’t know if the child is born with it and it’s only discovered later on because it is so subtle or if the dysplasia develops over time as the child matures.

Regardless of the origins, many doctors are monitoring the seemingly not-affected hip to see what happens.