3 yr old won't walk after a fall

[Dinosaurdrip]

3 yr old fell on tuesday and scrubbed both of her knees, I took her home, cleaned her up and stuck some plasters on her knees and didn't think anything of it. Next morning I got her up and she wouldn't straighten her legs and wouldn't/couldn't walk.

Took her to the hospital, they tried to physically straighten her leg and it was like it was locked, they couldn't straighten them. Had and xray which didn't detect any bony injuries so theu sent us home saying if she doesn't straighten it by tomorrow to bring her back.

I got her up this morning and took her in the kitchen and got her step out and just tried to stand her on it, which she did, she then walked to the fridge, got a drink out and went through to the living room.....excellent!!! I thought.
She then looks down at her knees and sees them and remembers and then just like that she can't won't walk again!!

I don't think she is being naughty, I have bribed her with her favourite things and nothing at all works! I just don't know what to do though but I can't send her to nursery and this is really affecting my work. Anyone any advice or experience with anything similar?

I used to do this. I pretended my feet had fallen off and I loved sitting with bandages on! My mum used to bandage my feet and they’d feel better and I’d recover! My brother used to pretend he had no bones and would lie on the floor being a bag of flesh. It’s a phase.

I'd send her to nursery! She's more likely to forget about it there and join in with running around with her friends.

The fact that she walked this morning obviously means it's psychological and not a physical injury. I agree she's not being naughty. I don't think bribes will help either. Have you taken the plasters off? Maybe the plasters are worse than the grazes at this point?

Sounds like she’s got in her head about it. I’d recommend distraction, don’t even mention the grazes or anything, try to take her mind off it, poor thing, it’s a shock more than anything when you take a big tumble.

This might seem strange but are the plasters still on? My daughter was once like that until we took the plasters off and saw that she'd had a reaction to the adhesive which caused blisters causing pain when she flexed her knee. Once the plasters came off she was fine