Perthers?

[firelighter]

Sorry I know there was a thread on this but can't find it.I have a 6 yr old DS (who has Aspergers) who has recently started to walk with a slight limp. At least I think it's a limp - he appears really stiff and sometimes sort of holds his arms over his groin area and folds in whilst walking? Sorry, hard to explain. However, he can run, jump, trampoline etc no problem and says he feels no pain. It also seems to come and go. Could this be Perthers disease or am I being paranoid? He's always had a tendency to walk on tip toes but think that's ASD related? Thanks.

Could be - I think the spelling is perthes which might help your search...

He's the right age group for Perthe's, certainly, and it sounds a possibility. Get to your GP's for a referral to children's ortho for exam +/- XRay. If it is Perthe's, the earlier you catch it the better.

My DS has Perthes, it started with a pain-free limp that I sort of ignored for quite a long time precisely because it was pain-free . If your son does have Perthes, every day he is still running, jumping, trampolining etc could be causing such a lot of damage to the bone, so please take him urgently to your GP and say that you want an urgent x-ray. My son has Grade 5 perthes (the worst!) and the top of his femur will be permanently deformed and despite having now had surgery by one of the top Perthes specialists in the UK...his outcome is still unlikely to ever be great because we didn't catch it early enough and his activity levels (he was very active) were not restricted early enough. A limping child should never be ignored, don;t let your GP fob you off...he needs an x-ray to rule out Perthes.

Thanks everyone for your help and I take on board what you say about not leaving it etc. Will make a doctor's appointment next week.