Worried about DS (4) - major limp and knee pain, but no injury

[roadtrain]

I sent DS (4.11) to school this morning as normal and he was running around the playground before he went inside perfectly fine with no problems.

When I picked him up from school, he had a major limp and was complaining that he knee hurt. I am certain that no injury/trauma occurred at home this morning and his teacher is sure that he was not involved in any accidents at school. There are no obvious marks on his knees - no cuts or grazes. I have asked him if he hurt himself at school etc but he says no.

I am really worried that he has a joint infection. What else can it be? I don't know what to do. I put him to bed as normal and he cried out once after he had been asleep for an hour but soon went back to sleep. I will sleep next to him but I don't know what is wrong with him and it is really worrying me. Can anyone help?

He does have a cold/cough which all his friends also have, but they are all just getting on with life, nobody seems really ill with it.

Could it be his hip?. Irritable hip often follows a viral infection. 4 yo's are not that good at localising pain. Maybe even in the knee joint you can get something similar? If its still there tomorrow I would take him to a minor injury unit that deals with children to get checked over.

i don't want to worry you but when ds was just over 3 he had no real pain in his leg but couldn't stand up.we didn't know what to do but after a morning of not walking we took him to drs who sent him straight to hospital - x rays showed he had chipped a bone in his shin and had to rest and be pushed around for a few days in a buggy.
to this day we don't know what or how he did - it must have been when he got out of bed in the morning as he was with us all day otherwise.
always worth getting things like this checked - good luck.

Take him to GP tomorrow
Pain killers and resting are first treatment I'd try

Yes, it could be that. I will definitely take him somewhere if it does not improve overnight. Thank you for your reply.

Another possibility would be hypermobile joints; this is how it started for dd at about that age. Has he got flat feet at all?

I would recommend you seek a doctor?s opinion, since you really are unsure about what?s affecting him. Consult the expert doctors of K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital. Their pediatric trauma center in NJ is very well equipped and caters to several kinds of trauma. .