Insufficiency of the hip adductor after anterior obturator neurectomy in 42 children with cerebral palsy.

Forty-two children with cerebral palsy treated between 1970 and 1982 for correction of adduction and internal rotation of the hip were studied. According to the combined procedures and the effects of surgical manipulations, two groups were evaluated. The results of release of the adductor longus and gracilis without anterior obturator neurectomy were satisfactory when combined with proximal release of medial hamstrings. Hypertonicity in hip adduction was relieved. In cases of loss of function of the adductor brevis with anterior obturator neurectomy, the results were not satisfactory, and hyperabduction of the hip was inadequate. The adductor brevis plays an important role in stability of the hip.