Limping 2.5 year old with pain - is it cancer?

[Aklein38]

Yesterday my son was running around playing normally but by the evening his left foot buckled from under him and he refused to put weight on it or walk and if he did he would limp in pain. I put him to bed and he slept through the night but this morning still limping and as it hurts him (he says his foot and knee hurt) he is tiptoeing instead. No fever or other symptoms. Just seen a GP who said although her examination was uneventful she is sending us to A&E as that is the process for a limping child. Just packing our bags to go but anyone else experience this. I'm terrified he has something sinister like cancer and this is his first symptom. Anyone else's child had cancer found based on a limp? Absolutely terrified and suffer from health anxiety.

It's far more likely that he's hurt it while playing. Try and keep calm, let a&e look at it.

Hi OP.

I suspect he has strained it whilst playing.
Cancer is an odd conclusion to jump to, is their a family history?

That's a big leap! Likely muscle strain, get it checked out.

That's a strange leap you've made. Are you normally very anxious?

I think you are catastrophising. Cancer doesn’t just manifest itself and cause issues all
of a sudden - most likely it’s a sprain or muscle tear as your son was running and playing : they are sending you for a scan so that they can see.

Your reaction is a bit concerning- do you have reason to suspect cancer?

Could be a fracture. They are very hard to detect in children, so perhaps the doctor sent you to A&E for that reason. No need to think about cancer at all yet

Children can get inflammation of joints or he might just have sprained something but children quite easily can have a hairline fracture so it is important to have it checked at hospital as a cast may be needed. Try not to worry too much and please let us know.

It's a really sudden change from running round fine to limping - it therefore means that he's hurt it somehow. Don't panic about cancer.

More likely a sprain or other injury

Thanks all. Yes I suffer very badly from health anxiety especially as my husband was diagnosed with heart failure at 36 when we thought his symptoms were just stress related so worried about history repeating itself. No real family history of cancer it's just that out of nowhere my perfect little boy had a limp and he says it hurts (he has a very high pain threshold so if he says it hurts it must really hurt).

You Google limp and not wanting to weight bear (ad the case with my son) and it comes up with infections and cancer and I'm terrified its cancer... just wondering of other people's experiences?

Son has just had lunch so off to A&E we go... I will update promise.

Also the reason I'm worried it's something more sinister rather than a sprain/muscle/fracture is that although he was playing yesterday there were no obvious injuries. It just hurt once we got home out of the car!

I think this is quite common in boys if this age. I'm sure I know of a couple of people this happened to & they went to hospital. It was all fine

My daughter fractured her ankle running around, without any actual accident (and then limped and complained of pain immediately). Their bones are wet and break differently to ours

Mine had this sudden pain about age 3, limping. GP sent us to paediatrician - x-rays, blood tests. Nothing wrong, eventually said he's been on his scooter too much. A week of no scooter and he was fine.

DS2 fractured his tibia around that age. He literally ran along the hallway to give Granny a hug. When she put him down, he wouldn't put any weight on his leg. The hospital said that greenstick fractures like that are surprisingly common in kids under 5.

In the kindest possible way, please stop googling symptoms. Especially when you have severe health anxiety, it just feeds into it and doesn’t have any benefit.

Could be irritable hip syndrome.

My son had it a couple of times

You said his foot buckled underneath him?

A limp and refusing to weight beat after you foot buckles underneath you is not a red flag for cancer. A 1 day history is not a red flag for cancer

If his foot buckled then it’s possible he’s got a small fracture. An X-ray will give you the answer.

Easy for us to say try not to worry but it’s highly unlikely it’s cancer.

You'll have a long wait up there probably, so try not to google. Just pop back on to update us, as were thinking of you,

Sensible to get it checked out, but as a pp has said, it may well be transient synovitis/irritable hip, sometimes associated with having had a cold or other virus. It happened to dd. She was sent to hospital. After being kept in for the day just being observed, it resolved itself.

This.

Coming from myself as a cancer patient, this is a lot.

I'd take him to minor injuries rather than accident & emergency

It could also be if he's had a virus muscular aches and pains.
Worrying it's cancer after one day is a bit of a stretch but I can understand your dh history.
I am sure it will be nothing serious.

I sympathise OP as this happened to us and I had the same thoughts as you. (He was absolutely fine, just a post viral joint inflammation).

Personally I think it's because of social media- would my mum have seen one of her kids with a limp and thought they had cancer? No!

But every time I'm on, say, Instagram, I get suggested reels of these heartbreaking stories where a mum has lost her child, usually from cancer. It's just human nature to stop and read, especially if the child looks like yours/is the same age as yours. There will often be signs and symptoms to look out for, the mum wishing she'd seen the signs. I've made a deliberate effort to avoid reading these stories now. As heart wrenching as they are, I don't think they help me be a better parent.

My eldest woke up on Christmas Day and couldn’t walk. It would have been pretty worrying at the time but my brother had suddenly lost the ability to walk when he was younger, walking home from school. In both cases it was a post viral thing causing inflammation in the joints and it resolved on its own. I totally get the catastrophising but try not to worry. You’re doing the right thing by thing getting him checked out, it will put your mind at rest.