Toddler Limping

[Lavender14]

Hi all, just wanted a bit of advice. Ds is 2yrs and 3 months and about 3 weeks ago had woke up one day with a very noticeable limp. No apparent pain with it just frustration that he couldn't run or jump, no bruising or sign of injury and nothing I or his grandparents could think of that would have caused it to be sore from the previous day - seemed fine going to bed that night.

Brought him to the gp who didn't think it was anything sinister but advised a and e to be extra safe. I decided I would take him the next morning as he was exhausted and cranky by that point (we'd had a long wait in the gp) and then when he woke up the next day it was gone so I thought no more of it.

However it seems to have appeared again today and nursery have said he seems sore if he's touched on his thigh but again no marks/bruises and he was absolutely fine running out the door to nursery this morning.

Shoes are a good fit and I've double checked shoes and socks and feet seem fine...

What is this? I'm hesitant to land at a and e with how long we'll likely wait plus the gp saying she doubted it was anything sinister makes me worry about wasting anyone's time.

Definitely back to GP at least & it wouldn’t be a waste of time to go back tomA&E, has he had any bugs lately? He may just have irritable hip, but it can be a sign of some worse things & should be seen & taken seriously. If you’re not sure about a&e you could phone 111, given it’s Friday I wouldn’t wait til Monday for any advice.

I am panicky and I would arrange an X-ray and ultrasound to ensure there is nothing sinister going on.

I was thinking irritable hip too but as above, it should be checked to be sure.

Weirdly I had this exact same situation with my boy on Sunday! He suddenly started cocking his right leg when he stood and wouldn't put any pressure on it, if he did he would let his leg crumble and sit down but no marks, bruises or obvious signs of pain, he wasn't crying and seemed happy as normal in himself. I took him to the GP the next day who said it might be transient Synovitis (irritable hip syndrome which can come on after a viral infection which he has had in the last couple of weeks), she recommended we take him to A&E to be safe which we did and after four hours they confirmed it was exactly this. They said to give him Nurofen and calpol for 72 hours and said it would clear up and each day it's got a bit better. He's totally fine now. It sounds like a really similar thing to what your little one has, maybe because yours is older he overestimated his recovery and knocked himself back a bit by doing too much too soon, but I agree that it's probably good to head back to A&E to be on the safe side. Apparently that syndrome is more common in boys as well!

Did your GP check for any signs of hip dysplasia?

I really don’t want to scare monger and alarm you but I would definitely push for a second opinion. Purely because a child I know started limping around age 3 and it turned out to be cancer. They have had a lot of treatment and recovered thankfully. But always worth double checking if you are concerned.

Irritable Hip Syndrome

My 3yo boy (at the time) had the same, sudden onset limp and couldn't weight bear at all. GP said with cases like this they won't see them and it was straight to A&E.

They did mechanical rotation of his leg to assess where the pain was, and X-Rays.

Consultant said it was IHS and really common, morseso in younger boys for some reason. The advice we were given, if it were to repeat again in future, was bring back to hospital if it continued for longer than 48 hours. Hasn't happened again since though.

Yeah, my boy had bone cancer (all well after 15 years and no limping as a symptom so didn't want to scare). Much much more likely for it to be irritable hip syndrome, particularly this time of a year.

Out of interest what type was it?

I think it was bone cancer, they had 9 months of chemo and a hip replacement. Doing well now.

Thanks all for the suggestions, he's been absolutely fine since being collected from nursery so now I'm nearly doubting myself again but if he's limping in the morning or it seems off in any way I will just take him straight to a and e to be on the safe side. He does have a slight turn in that foot, always has since birth and the hv knows and has never been too worried about it, so I'm wondering if that's maybe causing more of an issue as he gets bigger. But I'm glad to hear I'm not being ott I definitely feel much better about the idea of a and e now. He did have a cold last week and actually wasn't long over a bad dose just before the last time he was limping a couple of weeks ago (thank you nursery germs!) so that timing would fit for the irritable hip actually now I think about it. He's maybe not been long enough past it before getting the second dose of the cold on top.

Worth getting g checked out.

My dd2 started limping at age 3 and turned out to have Perthes syndrome, a problem with the ball part of her hip joint.

She had several years of restrictive mobility and things were ok for a while but at age 16 it flared up again and in August she had a total hip replacement. Shes just started running and jumping this last month and it's amazing! She's 21 now and is doing so well.

Definitely worth going for a Check up and some x-rays. Most things are treatable if thought early xx

There's something called Irritable Hip or Transient Synovitis. It's an infection that can develop after a child has had a virus. My 18mth old developed a limp, needed some blood tests, pain relief and antibiotics and was in hospital for 2 nights. Its not a rare thing and is easily treated but you really need to get this checked out.

One of mine had hip issues at a young age. Definitely get it checked out, why wouldn't you, but hopefully nothing of concern. Hope all well.

Irritable hip is very common, but I wouldn't expect it to appear, then disappear, then reappear 3 weeks later. That would be a bit unusual. So probably worth getting checked out.

We had this with DD when she was nearly 3
It went on for about 3 months, most of the time she could walk and then for no reason she couldn't and we had to use a pushchair. We started with the GP, then A&E and finally a Consultant. We were at the hospital multiple times. Everyone we saw had a good idea of what it was, mostly terrifying. When we got to the consultant he diagnosed water on the knee,
And that was it, she never had a problem walking again.
You've had lots of scary suggestions but in DDs case it was simple and went away.
I was terrified. I would head to A&E if it happens again.

Please don’t just assume irritable hip though, I did with one of mine (and it did turn out it was that) and took ages (not that long really, but same as you, it kept clearing up) to get them to the GP & got told off 😳 the GP put in a referral to ortho who checked it out, we never went to A&E.
We were a lot quicker when 2nd child got it, altho that was much more pronounced & dramatic (2nd children!) I seem to recall that one got an ultrasound of the hip.

You need to stop letting the A&E wait cloud thinking - the GP said to take him for good reason. Your wait may be long but they can check things a GP can't.

Follow the medical advice you were given.

Old mattress causes leg pain.

How is it looking OP?

So I asked two friends one who is a consultant paediatrician and one who is a gp (i probably should have asked them initially but i feel bad asking them about work when they aren't working) and they've both said its not a and e worthy. I haven't seen him limping at all since the original 24 hr limp (which they said sounded like irritable hip and would settle itself) and to be honest I think nursery are commenting on the turn in his foot which does affect his walking slightly and maybe have only noticed it since I pointed out the original limp (which there was no missing- it was really pronounced). Today he walked about nursery with me and the staff there and they were pointing a limp out but it looked like his normal gait to me (including the turn in his foot) so I think that's what they're meaning when they say he's limping. He's only recently started this nursery two months ago and he goes part time so it makes sense they haven't noticed him in-turning up to now when I've asked them to watch his walking. The gp and hv have both said to wait until he's 3 to check in again about the turn in his foot as he may still grow out of it as did my friends (he's had that since birth). Nursery had originally said he had pain in his thigh/hip when he was getting a nappy change but he's never reacted like that when I've changed him, (including after pick up that day) and I've moved his legs through a whole range of motions and he seemed totally comfortable as did the gp when he got checked before. So at the minute I'm still watching him closely.

Feel like I'm losing my mind a little at this point!! I have the morning off with him tomorrow so going to watch him closely again and do lots of running about outside to make sure I'm not losing the plot!

My now adult ds limped for a few days after coming too fast down a slide. Does nursery have one?

Yeah they have a little slide

Sounds good! I am glad it seemed to have passed and there is no pain!