Twenty-eight children were treated who had limited flexion of the hips
and various degrees of contracture of the abductor and external rotator
muscles because of fibrosis of the gluteus maximus muscle. Although the
lesions could be classified as those associated with poliomyelitis,
infection of the gluteus maximus muscle, and fibrosis of unknown etiology,
all forty-five hips had a typical restriction of motion such that an
affected hip could not be flexed in the usual sagittal plane, but had to be
flexed in abduction. Poliomyelitis may have been adjunctive to the
causative factor of the lesion in some cases but the probable primary
etiology was multiple intramuscular injections. Excellent correction of the
hip contracture was achieved in all patients by division of the fibrotic
bands.