The Etiology of Quadriceps Contracture in Children.

The clinical histories of six patients with quadriceps contracture seen within the last five years have been analysed and a search has been made for a common cause. Additional information has also been sought from authors who have recently reported this condition, Hn#{232}vkovsk (1961), Fairbank and Barrett (1961), and Gammie, Taylor and Urich (1963), to whom we are greatly indebted for their help. Study of our six patients revealed that they had all had injections or infusions into the thigh soon after birth, four of them for serious illnesses. Upon inquiry it transpired that out of twenty-two patients observed by the previous authors six had been similarly treated. This report is concerned with the implications of this observation.