Congenital Postural Deformities: Perinatal Associations

Abstract

The belief that certain congenital anomalies might be caused by mechanical factors in utero dates back to Hippocrates and has been readvanced in our own times by Browne (1936, 1955) and Chappie & Davidson (1941). However, the hypothesis was for the most part based on anecdotal clinical evidence and, at any rate by 1960, had failed to gain wide support (Browne 1960, Corner 1960). In that year I commenced a number of clinicopathological studies on this subject which were brought together in a thesis in 1969. In this paper I shall summarize some of the epidemiological data collected between 1960 and 1963.