Hip Dislocation and Dystocia in Early Medieval Times: Possible Evidence of Labor Maneuver.
In ancient times, maternal mortality would occur frequently, particularly during labor. Evidence of dystocia resulting in the death of a pregnant woman is very infrequent in paleopathologic literature, with only a few cases being demonstrated.



In the early medieval site of Casserres, the skeleton of a young woman with a fetus in the pelvic region was found. Some abnormal findings of the maternal skeleton were evaluated, including a sacral anomaly, femoral head wound, the rare position of the lower left limb with the femoral head dislodged anteriorly and cephalad from the socket, and a fibular fracture.



Examining the anomalies all together, a case of anterior hip dislocation related to a McRoberts-like maneuver performed during labor is a plausible explanation of the findings.
Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Department Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Hospital Universitari del SagratCor, Barcelona, Spain; and Department POLCOMIG, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
Assumpció
A
Malgosa
Susana
S
Carrascal
Giampaolo
G
Piga
Albert
A
Isidro
D004420:Dystocia / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D006617:Hip Dislocation / Q000209:etiology / Q000266:history*; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D063130:Maternal Death / Q000266:history*; D010164:Paleopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D013030:Spain; D014710:Version, Fetal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000266:history*