Does this warrant a GP appointment?

[Crunchymum]

DC2 has a sore knee. No injury she can think of but its been sore enough to cause her a bit of a limp for the past few days. I've been given Nurofen morning and night which helps but we're reaching day 3 so I can't continue to medicate her.

She swims (swam yesterday with her bad knee) and also does gymnastics and ballet that I'll cancel this coming week as she isn't up to it.

At what point does it become necessary to see a GP? And realistically what can they do?

No swelling or bruising, she's fine in herself. Hurts mainly when she uses the stairs (we have a lot of bloody stairs though)

Have been icing as well but that wasn't helping.

**when I say limp I mean more she doesn't have her full range of movement. She is keeping her leg straight when she walks.

I ha e something similar although I am a grown adult lol loss of range of movement and soreness on extending the knee and weight bearing. I've had it for around 6 months. GP says it's patella tendinopathy. I'm not sure how/if this would present in a child though. My understanding is it's trauma related so with her being so active it could well be? I'd go to the GP th y may take x rays and MRI. In my case they didn't bother and just sent me to a physio which I'm yet to see however mine has improved with time.

Physio.

She needs to rest, ice, elevate for a week or two before I'd even consider a GP appointment for a knee that's a bit sore.

I assume you aren't just handed out physio appointments for sore knees? And you'd need to see the GP for a referral.

A route I'll certainly take if need be but it's day 3?

She hasn't been resting much (very active 9yo) and we've not elevated so we'll try this and go back to icing.

I used to go privately for the extra time and attention (when I had both the money and a health issue) but for NHS you can self-refer in lots of areas.

You say "it's day 3" but you're the one considering a GP appointment, that doesn't make sense to me.

In our area we can self refer to kids physio or there is an advice line where you can speak to a physio if you are concerned about your kids. No need to go to the GP.

Definitely a physio. GPs will say rest,
raise and take tables and maybe cold/hot.

You don’t need a referral for a private physio. You just ring them up yourself.

In our area we can refer for nhs physio by speaking to the gp receptionist so it’s worth asking. I was seen in 5 days as they’re hired directly by the group of surgeries.

You can self-refer for NHS in most areas, too.

I just re-read the post and she shouldn't have swam while injured. Especially not breast stroke with a knee injury.

How old is she? Teens can be prone to a specific knee problem called Osgood Schlatter. It's something to do with the fast growing bone and cartilage not keeping pace with one another with regard to strength and size. Our teen was warned off sport for several months, which upset him mightily. We did a bit of research ourselves, and put him on some specific vitamins (from memory might have been Vit D, but look it up yourself). He also wore a knee brace. He was back to pain free sport very quickly.

Is it worse walking down the stairs? I had "runners knee" (although I hadn't actually been doing any running). Main treatment was resting it for a while to let it recover.

Absolutely worth seeing if a physio will take a look and to keep taking some ibuprofen in the meantime (there are risks with long term use of ibuprofen but they are lower for children than adults, you can always ask the pharmacist what they would recommend if you are worried about it).

She's 9.

She insisted she was fine to swim and I told her coach so he tailored her swim a bit.

@madeinmanc I wasn't aware you can self refer for physio, I thought you would have to see a GP first and I assumed that the lack of resources meant they won't refer her her on "only" day 3.

Still can't get a firm answer if my practice do let you self refer but I'll call tomorrow.

And thanks everyone ☺️ appreciate the advice.

I think with no obvious injury a gp would want to see her. If she had fallen and hurt it then yea let her rest it but she doesn't know how it got hurt.
My ds got a random limp when he was 3 and gp sent us to A&E for xray and bloods. All came back fine but hospital did take it seriously. He had bloods, 2 x-rays and a hip ultrasound before they concluded that it was probably the result of a virus which can be common in younger kids.

Knee is worse up and down stairs. She's on day 3 of Ibuprofen.

She has had a very heavy schedule the past two weeks (swam 10 days out if 14 which isn't usual. Only one of these was swims were after her knee began to hurt). She's also done gymnastics and ballet. Come to think of it it her knee started to hurt after her ballet on Thursday evening but when asking her she cannot pinpoint any specific time she hurt her knee in the lesson. She's been with the same ballet instructor for nearly 3 years (so she's not hurt herself doing a new activity or under a new teacher)

Hopefully she's just overdone it, I'll def check out the physio.

In some areas you can indeed self refer for physio or GP refers you, there is no difference in waiting. Does your GP surgery have a website? Our does and the link to physio referral is on it. You can also google physio on local hospital website and if there is a possibility of self referral the info will be there.
I would also Google her symptoms on the NHS website. It’s usually got general advice and exercises. By the way our surgery has info about this sort of injuries as well. There is a difference apparently when you put heat and when you put ice and how long you are taking painkillers. Both DH and I used these info a lot but obviously I can’t comment about children.

Chrondomalacia patella, it's extremely painful

I use the term limp to more describe her not having full range of movement (if anything she is keeping the leg with the sore knee straight when she walks)

I am pretty sure it's linked to overdoing it when I look at what's she's done the past 14 days (x10 swimming, x2 gymnastics and x2 ballet) but I won't be complacent.

Didn't want to start a debate on the whole sorry state of being able to get a GP appointment in the first place, but yes that affects my decision. You often have to spend a good half an hour trying to get through - hitting redial a billion times - from 8am and 8am is prime getting ready for school time (I have 2 other DC as well). I'd say it's 50/50 whether you get an appointment if you do get through.

Would be much better if they allow us to self refer for physio!!

Aww, bless her. Knee pain is such a bugger, you use your knees all the time which you don't really think about or realise until one of your knees is injured!

I'd probably ask for a telephone appointment however I tend to be a bit over cautious with injury now as DS2 complained about a sore foot - no swelling or bruising but a limp - said he hadn't fallen/dropped anything on it or hurt it so I left it. Went to gp after a week when he was still saying it hurt. They sent him for an x Ray just to be safe and it was broken. Oops!

Just checked website and you can only self refer to physio if you are 18 or over.

So I'll be calling the GP tomorrow. No sense in letting it drag on. Monday's are notoriously hard to get appointments but I'll see if I have any joy.

Thanks all.

Hi @Crunchymum
In my experience, GPs are a total bloody waste of time for this sort of thing. They have absolutely no understanding of dance/gymnastics-related injuries. They will just tell her to take paracetamol and rest. A physio referral from a GP would take months, which is no good at all.

My advice would be to find a local sports physio (dance physios are as rare as unicorn eggs) and take her to them. It will be money well spent. They are far more likely to be able to identify the cause of the problem, which is what she needs. They will also understand the need to get back to fitness as soon as possible.

By the way, although she is only 9, she might be gearing up for a puberty growth spurt, in which case it is a prime time for strained tendons and ligaments. Please also bear in mind a condition called osgood schlatters, which affects the knees.

Thank you for the advice.

I do actually have private health care through work and all my kids are on it so I'll see if this is something that is covered.

Our GP has a self referral system to the physio. I would think it's only for adults though.
Basically if you are not qualified to diagnose something yourself then you see the GP. Some GPs specialise in sports injuries or women's health or mental health or other areas. A look on the Practice website will tell you if there's one that specialises in the area needed. The GP might be useless but it's a starting point.