Abduction contracture: an unusual complication in the treatment of acute capital femoral epiphysiolysis.

A significant abduction contracture of the hip followed closed reduction and pinning of an acute slip of the proximal femoral epiphysis in a 13-year-old boy. The contracture was corrected by removal of this bony prominence. Over-reduction of the slipped epiphysis into valgus is thought to have stimulated bony overgrowth at the posteromedial aspect of the capital femoral epiphyseal-neck junction. This causes a block to adduction by abutting against the inferior lip of the acetabulum. To our knowledge, this complication has not been previously reported.