Toddler clicking hip but not dysplasia?

[huawing]

Hi all! Wondering if anyone else has experienced similar with their babies/toddlers. I have a 16 month old who is now walking and running everywhere. Since he was about 6 months old we have noticed a frequent click or popping sound from his lower back/left hip region that we can feel when we pick him up. It has gotten more noticeable now when he walks - it is a continuous clicking noise that is very audible.
We were worried that this was developmental hip dysplasia and we got seen by the GP who referred for X-rays - they were taken when he was 13 months old before he was walking. Both X-rays were clear and therefore it is not dysplasia.
It could possibly be snapping hip syndrome but this isn’t common at all in children before adolescence.

We will push to get a second opinion from a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon but for now if anyone has anything similar to share or advice, I would be so grateful to hear it. I’m quite worried about it.
Thank you 🙏

Hip dysplasia is classically clunky rather than clicky. Random clickiness is a lot more common if there's some hypermobility, so just wondered if that happened to be a factor?

I’m not medical but was going to suggest Hypermobility like the PP.

Have you seen an osteopath that works with children this young? My hips were like this all my life and I was taken for many X-rays etc. I'm hyper mobile.

Also came to suggest hypermobility. DD1 had a clicky hip at her 8w check and was referred for an ultrasound, which was clear. She showed lots of signs of hypermobility and at 3.5y was referred for physio. Shes 4.5y now and weve been told not to expect a formal diagnosis before age 7, but we are getting quarterly physio checks and physio exercises to do inbetween at home.

Edit to add it was our HV who picked up the hypermobility and did the physio referral for us, so if you havent seen your HV lately, might be worth booking an appointment with them to discuss. Ours can refer directly onwards without the need for GPs to do it.

Thank you so much everyone for your comments and suggestions!
I was also thinking along the lines of hypermobility.
That’s a great idea about the health visitor too - I will try and get in touch with them for assessment in the new year.
I’ve also sent a form to our GP to ask for referral to orthopaedics for second opinion.

Can I ask, how do people know the difference between click and clunk? I’ve not heard a “clunk” to know what it is.

Not sure about the sound but my adult DD has a clicky hip which sometimes locks. Both DD hypermobile youngest diagnosed age 2. Both bottom shufflers and late walkers ( 16 and 19 months) Youngest constantly fell over once she started walking.
Both born with positional talipes of the left foot youngest needed physio for weeks.
The gait for a child who has hypermobile hips presents as one leg thrown out round the other foot. Good to seek specialist support though. Young children often turn feet in or out but grow out of it.
Youngest used to have part of the sole of her shoe shaved off ( traditional shoe shop) once she had school shoes. Seemed to help stability.

Hypermobility - often Ehlers danlos syndrome if there are other things involved too

A clunk is the sensation under your fingers of a hip joint dislocating/relocating when examining a newborn. Lots of new resident doctors get excited feeling clicks, until they've felt their first clunk!

Ooh sounds worrying OP! Glad consensus is hylermobility, while a potential challenge probably nothing too alarming! DD had DDH and IMO clunks are sickening and clicks are satisfying 😆 probably not a particularly helpful yardstick!