Safety seat use for children with hip dislocation.

Treatment of children with congenitally dislocated hips requires that an infant be placed into a plaster spica cast for a duration of 3 to 12 months. Because the use of a safety seat is difficult, if not impossible, for children fitted with a brace or spica cast, a solution for safe transportation was developed. A Century child restraint model 100 or the Century model 300 was selected as appropriate for modification. Seat padding was removed from the lower sides of the plastic shell, and the shell was cut. The seat padding was replaced and taped tightly to the outer side of the shell. An impact test of the modified safety seat at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute indicated that the modification of the shell did not compromise the performance of the restraint system. Seats with this modification have been loaned to children treated at the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children with satisfactory results.