Post viral knee pain in 4yo - anyone got any experience of this?

[chillipickle]

4yo DS had a virus over the weekend, seemed to be a fairly general coldy thing with high temperature. His temperature was down this morning so he went to his childminder as usual, and was apparently fine all day, but when DH came to pick him up at the end of the day, he said his knee hurt and he couldn't put any weight on it.

It's been the same all evening. It's just in one knee and it doesn't look swollen or red. He says it doesn't hurt when he's sitting or lying down, and he can get around by crawling, but can't put weight on it.

We asked what he was doing when it started hurting, but he was very vague so we don't think he has injured it - although I imagine we should see a GP to rule this out.

I tried calling NHS direct for advice, but they are only dealing with emergencies. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar.

Yes - ds2 twice, but it then moved into his hip (it can start in the knee apparently). He had a cold in both cases beforehand. The first time he couldn't stand, and I had no idea what had happened. I rang his school and the head answered, I told her about it and she said the same had happened to her dd. We rang NHS direct who said to get him checked out at A&E which we did. they said it was post viral. It cleared within a couple of days.

The second time I didn't bother getting it checked - although had it continued for more than a couple of days of course I would have.

Here:

kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/toxic_synovitis.html

Also quite helpful

orthopedics.about.com/od/pediatrichipinjuries/a/synovitis.htm

We've had it twice with dd following nasty colds. Cleared up fairly quickly after a checkover with the gp and confirmation of it being post viral pain. She was sobbing when trying to weight bear. Ibuprofen was the best thing for it at the time.

Thanks for the replies, both. I was wondering if we should have taken him to a doctor this evening, rather than pack him off to bed with a dose of ibuprofen. But I guess we'll see how things are in the morning.

I think providing he doesn't get unwell as such and it doesn't last too long you don't have to worry too much. It does seem quite common.

my ds also had twice, and just had a bout last week... feel for you as horrible to see... first time did last nearly a week. just to warn you the research i did revealed that likely to happen again if you get another virus within 6-12 months. apparently most common in under 7 boys but tends to disappear at puberty. another vote for ibuprofen - if anyone knows of any supplements pls suggest? hope he's better.

My DD had something similar just last week and I posted here. Hopefully it has now gone off fo your child. I took mine to A&E as she couldn't weight bear at all both legs, previous viral infection & high temperature. Hospital confirmed her joints were OK and sent us home just to keep eye on it. In her case it was inflammation of the muscle caused by the virus. However it can be more serious if in a joint apparently - which was what they were checking for. Sometimes this would need antibiotics or other treatment. They said that normally they would send a person home for a few days to try analgesics - esp ibuprofen which is an anti inflammatory - every 6 hrs (I think) and if no better in few days to go back for blood tests/X Ray. Just to add, both NHS direct and GP told me to go to A&E with it - they were both thinking of osteomyelitis I think, which can be serious - although in most cases these symptoms do not turn out to be this - according to the cons at A&E