One year old limping knee pain

[Wrennieroo]

Our 16 month old has been limping and in a lot of pain for a week. Happy in herself when she’s not using her leg. She’s had two X-rays which haven’t shown anything. Her knee is warm and a little swollen. She doesn’t want to put weight on it at all and is clearly in a lot of pain when she does. No improvement in a week, anyone had a similar experience? Maybe we haven’t given it enough time but it’s awful seeing her like this as she’s usually such a busy and active girl.

If it's swollen / warm I think she should be seen again (if she has features of being systematically unwell like a fever, definitely and urgently). It may be transient synovitis / irritable hip which can drag on, but nobody would fault you for having her checked again.

Thank you for your reply. She’s been seen three times now but my instinct is there might be an infection like you said. We have a follow up on Thursday but think I’ll take her back sooner.

See if there is a temperature. My little one had what we thought was a fracture. Cast put on. But in a week felt more poorly and very high temperature. Went back to hospital. They offered MRI but she wasn't having the sedation. Turned out to be a bone infection. I'm sure yours won't be this, but do keep an eye on how they are in a few more days.

If she gets a high temperature or starts to show other signs of being unwell as well as the knee pain then it's a case of going straight to A&E.

The guidelines state that in the case of bone pain plus fever, an MRI should be done to rule out bone infection as it doesn't always show on x-rays.

Having said all that, hopefully this isn't a bone infection for your DD if she's happy in herself. My DD was obviously unwell with her bone infection as she was pale, nauseous and had temps ranging from 39.5-40.2. It was really clear there was something really wrong.

Trust your instincts!

She doesn’t have a fever and seems ok in herself but she’s a stoical little girl so conscious of that. She was at the end of hand, foot and mouth when this started, which is giving me a niggling feeling. May be coincidence but will get it checked again to be sure. Thank you for your replies, much appreciated! Hope your little ones recovered quickly.

Have they xrayed her hip for Perthe's disease, a degeneration of the hip ball which causes painless limping. My dd2 had it as a baby and recently had a hip replacement (age 20).

Worth asking about?

I also second look into perthes disease and a hip xray, although in early stages it may not show