Frog-legged Children
Ping Guoxing, Director, Pingzhou Hospital, Nanhai, Guangdong:
In gluteal muscle contracture, the muscles in the buttocks have cicatrized and contracted, hindering the hip joints, and making it difficult for the patient to walk. This child can鈥檛 sit normally. He must have his legs opened wide to sit or squat down.
Later, the doctors found other frog-legged children in the villagers鈥 homes. Some were nearly 20. Then, what caused the frog-leg phenomenon? The doctors said, it was caused by the necrosis of the gluteal muscles leading to the cicatrizing of tissues at deep positions with subsequent loss of flexibility. The necrosis of gluteal muscles may be caused by a serious injury.
Ping:
For example, a pelvis fracture may cause damage to the gluteal muscles, and lead to their contracture. Another cause is tumors. Tumors at the upper part of the femur can also cause gluteal muscle contracture. A protective reflex in response to pain may have symptoms similar to that of gluteal muscle contracture.
Another cause is excessive injections of penicillin containing benzyl alcohol, at a young age. Then what was actually the cause of the frog-leg disease of the children in Huangtai Village? The survey indicated that, it was impossible for all the frog-legged children to suffer serious injury in their childhood. The most probable cause was frequent intra-muscular injections of penicillin in their childhood.
In an intra-muscular injection, people dissolve the medicine in a solvent and inject it into the muscles at the buttock. Its chemical nature and osmotic pressure will irritate the muscles. Repeated injections will cause the cicatrizing of the muscles leading to their shortening, that is, contracture.
In the 1970鈥檚, doctors found some children receiving penicillin injections had frog-legs. The number of cases increased in the 1980鈥檚. Some doctors began to think there might be problems with benzyl alcohol.
