What was this ailment my dh had as a child?

[SteamingTangerine]

When DH was about ten years old it snowed heavily and he went out sledging and playing in the snow for hours. The next day he woke up and couldn't stand or walk, when he tried to put weight on his legs they just gave way. He had to shuffle on his bottom for a couple of days before he recovered.

He saw a doctor at the time who said it was a cramp from playing in the snow. I've never heard of anything like this and wondered if something else was going on? He says it didn't feel like a cramp as such as he wasn't in pain, his legs just wouldn't bear his weight. Has anyone heard of anything like this happening?

No idea but interested in the replies

Chilblains

At the beginning of your post, I was thinking chilblains, but never heard of that lasting days and affecting weight baring.

According to a paramedic friend who worked in a ski resort, sledging can cause more spinal injuries than skiing! The landing hard on ice, with no padding other than a plastic toboggan sends a shock up the spine. I wonder if he bruised his back causing some swelling. Often once the swelling resolves, movement is regained. The only thing I can think of 🤔

DD1 had something similar when she was 17 but in the summer. She woke up one day and her legs just wouldn't hold her. She needed to borrow a wheelchair in college. The hospital couldn't find anything and put it down to stress. After about 2 weeks she was fine again.

Could it have been some cold induced muscle spasm?

Not to offend, but my dogs have both suffered from limp tails that they cannot wag after too much sea swimming in cold weather. It resolves after a couple of days.

This happened to me many years ago.... I've never thought or discussed it since, never knew it happened to anyone else or knew what I could be.
I was about 12 or 13, woke up for school, got out of bed & my legs just went from under me. So sensation, no pain, it was like they just weren't there.
In my teenage haze I must not have registered but as I went to my bedroom door it happened again... I got up, fell infront of the toilet a 3rd time.

I remember calling down to my mum & saying my legs aren't working.
Day off school & by the afternoon I was completely normal. She popped off to work & I never saw a doc or anything. God that sounds awful as a parent myself now! (She's a wonderful mother honestly!)

So odd. Never happened since..... except the occasional mid 20's all night partying! But I think that was probably the booze!

Did your DH maybe have a cold or another virus around the same time? My DS had a cold a few years ago, woke up one morning and couldn’t weight bear. We went to A&E and he was diagnosed with transient synovitis. It was so bizarre. He was as right as rain two days later.

Transient Synovitis

Over exercise can do it. After doing 26 miles straight up a mountain and back down again in one day, the next morning I could not walk. My legs were like jelly. There was no muscle pain as it was over exertion, not a pulled muscle.

Transient synovitis sounds about right. My child had this when he was about 3 though the A&E consultant who saw him didn't use this term but just said he had a virus on his hip. I think the playing in the snow is entirely coincidental and is not the cause of the problem.

It would have just been muscle ache. His muscles would have been cold, the snow harder to be in and he will have exerted himself a lot by running up the hill over and over again. I remember something similar as a child after a PE lesson when I was 5ish. I couldn't fathom what had happened but my legs just felt too sore And weak to use.

Did he suffer from a lot of pain or was just unable to move them?

This! My little boy had it and I had to google the proper name as the doctor called it irritable hip syndrome, even though in his case the symptoms were mainly in his knees. It was triggered by cold and his legs completely seized. He was ok as long as he was in one position, but when we had to lift him up to help him to the loo he screamed when we moved his knees :/

He can't remember feeling any pain.

Thank you for the replies, it's really interesting.

If you overdo it your muscles can break down to the point you can't walk. I forgot what it's called but it happened to me once in my 20's. If it's bad you'll have blood in your urine. I think it can get serious or fatal in some extreme cases.

I remember similar and ended up in hospital with something called Henoch Schonlein Purpura. I was 4 or 5 though.

No way was playing in the snow incidental

Yes, as others have said there's a virus that typically effects around late primary age children, more often boys, which means they can't weight bear for a few days. It isn't painful, and it isn't long lasting.

There's often been a child with it in A&E when I've been first thing in the morning.

I was going to say irritable hip syndrome.

This is so interesting as 3 times in his life my son has claimed in the morning that he can’t go to school because his legs don’t work. Lots of wailing “I can’t walk” and rolling around on the floor but then fine within a couple of hrs and everyone tells me he’s just lying to get a day of school but I don’t think he is.

So this is very helpful!

Can dogs get this irritable hip?! Mine is a healthy 3 year old lab who was sick for a couple of days and then couldn’t weight bear on her back legs for 2 days when she first got up in the morning. By day 3 she was fine. It was v bizarre!

Another vote for transient synovitis, caused by a virus.