to ask you all about my son limping

[emanjay]

Ds (7) has been complaining of pain in his leg since march. It has been intermittent. He says it is at the top of his thigh, front of his leg and does not hurt when muscle is squeezed. He was limping and in pain after school yesterday and has been the same all day today. Doctors will not see him until next Friday. I asked to have a talk to GP over the phone but was refused. Worried what it might be. Growing pains surely don't last 24 hours at a time. And always same leg, in the same place

Has he been poorly recently?

I'm not trying to diagnose over the internet but I wonder if it might be something like my ds had (also 7).

He had pain in front of thigh at top that got worse (over a few days) until he couldn't walk without pain or lift his leg to get in car, etc. GP saw him same morning and he was sent straight to children's hospital. He'd had a nasty cold and apparently sometimes the virus can settle in the hip joint and cause problems, and this is what ds2 had - toxic synovitis I think. They did tests to rule out anything more serious, but thankfully it wasn't and the pain died down after a few days. It comes with a cold/fever and some children get it repeatedly.

Hope you get to talk to the GP soon.

Don't let them fob you off with growing pains. My daughter had a similar thing when she was 4, one doctor said growing pains, but I wasn't happy and went back and saw a different doctor. It turned out she had Perthes disease, I don't want to scare you, but you really should get it properly checked.

My son had synovitis, when fluid settles around the hip joint following a virus. Diagnosed by ultrasound. It started accutely - he suddenly couldn;t walk - and he was better and walking again after about a week.

Make an appointment with the doctor. There is not much they can do over the telephone.

Transient synovitis was the name.

My DS also had synovitis following a virus.

Please don't let them fob you off. I had intermittent limping from the age of 9, doctors never bothered looking into and now at 22 I have fallen arches in my feet which have knocked my knees and hips out of line which in turn has caused a disk in my back to slip (this was never looked into and diagnosed until I was 19)

I always walk with a limp now and get very swollen ankles and knees and have to always wear supportive shoes as well as to attend physio on a monthly basis.

Lots of luck for you and your child for a diagnosis and help :)

insist on emegency appointment
however unlikely, he must be seen to rule out something nasty.
not to freak you out, but i have personal experience of these sorts of things turnig out to be something that needs prompt action (sarcoma)

If he has had it since March then 3 extra days are unlikely to make much difference.

If you want a quicker response in case it is an emergency try NHS direct/111 or whatever they are these days.

Believe it or not they'll be better qualified than us ;-)

My little sister had something that sounds similar and in fact it was something to do with growing pains, but for some reason caused an intense amount of pain for a prolonged amount of time. I have no idea off the top of my head what it was but I believe it passed as she stopped growing so it could be growing pains, but do make sure (as I have no doubt you will) they investigate it properly before putting it down to that. Hope it is something that passes quickly

agree with above,

if he is limping now he needs an xr as soon as poss

was a recent review of growing pains- you can only diagnose this if the pain is intermittent / in DIFFERENT parts of legs and not causing physical problems

ie what you are describing is not growing pains please see GP he needs an xr to exclude hip disease / long bone ( femur ) problems ( although this would be rare in 7 yr old)

Ds1 complains of intermittent leg pain. At one point he was waking up at night screaming with it.

Physio diagnosed hypermobility and sent him to get orthotic insoles to stabilise his legs. They've helped massively but he does still get leg pain on and off.

My son had Perthes too (its a hip problem but pain gets referred down the leg). His pain was more around the knee. Its hard to diagnose unless you 'know' what to look for (drs I mean)
You could try and lie him on the floor and try and gently rock the affected leg from left to right. Its only a gentle movement but something that will be difficult for someone who has hip problems such as Perthes.

Agree with DFG my brother had this when he was 6 and the doctors continued to fob mum of for ages with growing pains and 'its all in his head' He also had perthes disease and had an operation for it. His son also had the same thing and was also diagnosed with perthes. Get it checked out and insist on referral-hope it gets sorted quickly for you and your dc.

my daughter was lucky, it was caught before she was five, which apparently makes a big difference. She had to have crutches for a year, and couldn't do any exercise that caused impact on her hip. Apart from that and regular checkups she didn't have any treatment. She was signed off at 14 from the hospital and they told us she was one of their big successes with Perthes and they were going to use her x-rays in teaching lectures, So her hip bone is a star now!

Had an x ray today. Diagnoses is irritable hip but have to go back in 2 weeks for a scan if no better. Thanks so much for all your replies :)

Could be a tight muscle, I have one that comes and goes and has since I was about that age, certain types of exercise would make it sore for a few days then it would ease. When it starts it feels like a pulling pain from middle of my thigh about 2 inches down from the groin at the front, and pulls inwards towards my hip. It does make me limp when its bad.

I remember there being times when I was growing up where almost anything used to set it off for a few months and then not a peep from it for several more months. My mum reckoned as I was growing it maybe needed to adjust to the new growth and then it would be fine.
Irritable hip sounds like a bit of a cop out tbh, but I would think anything major/nasty would have been spotted on the X-ray so its most likely something related to growing.