4 year old limping

[meganew]

Anyone have any experience with a situation like this? Viv is suddenly refusing to put weight on her left leg. There was no injury, nothing is swollen, no bruise, no fall- we were at the park for a bit this afternoon, then came home and played and they were sitting on the couch watching TV while we were cooking dinner and all of a sudden she came limping out to the kitchen telling us her leg hurt. She couldn’t point to where and when we had her sit down she isn’t flinching or reacting when we try touching her knee or feet or anything. But then she’ll stand up and her leg will buckle when she tries to walk.

I honestly thought she was making it up a bit, like maybe she pulled a muscle at the playground and was being dramatic, but she just woke up and came in to our room limping on her tiptoe and still isn’t putting weight on it. And now I’m worried. I’ll be calling the doctor in the morning to see what they want us to do, but wtf? She has been non stop sick for like two months straight- random fevers and viruses that take a week to fully go away, only to come back a week later. I was just in to the doctor about her fevers on Thursday and he was like ::shrug:: “It’s winter!” But now this? What the hell is going on with my baby?

[sequins]

Aww poor Viv. I have no idea but definitely take her to the doctor in the morning. I hope she feels better.

[woodgnome]

My DS is 3 and had back to back sicknesses like this last winter & it worried me. It was exactly how you described- he would get over it & then be sick again a week later. Then at the end of the winter, he got pneumonia 😣 the doctor said it was totally normal but it just felt like it was constant.

A friend of mines son had a similar thing happen with his leg- he limped on it, wouldn’t put any weight on it for a few days, they had xrays done and then all the sudden he was fine.

The two are probably unrelated but it’s obviously smart to talk to the dr!

[WOUNDTIGHT]

This exact thing happened to my DS when he was 2. It’s scary as hell! But the diagnosis was actually NBD- something called toxic synovitis. It basically sometimes appears after an illness but clears up on its own after a few days. We did x rays and everything first to make sure nothing else was wrong. But yeah when your kid suddenly stops walking it’s awful.

[isabel]

My first thought is growing pains. They come on really suddenly for DS1. He’ll be 4 in April. He’ll complain off and on, sometimes for a couple of days. We give ibuprofen when he’s feeling uncomfortable.

I suppose the doctor will probably want to do an X-ray, but I’d be pretty surprised if it was anything serious based on what you posted.

[Mrs. Meerkat]

Something similar happened with my DS when he was newly 4. He runs around and jumps like crazy and one day he was limping, said his leg hurt. He was able to show it was hurting in his shin/ankle area. We thought maybe it was from jumping around at the park after a few months of being inside (winter birthday and then one day of nice weather). Gave some ibuprofen and when he said it still hurt two days later, we suspected a stress fracture or something, so went to get X-rays.

He was fine. Doctor said it was more than likely growing pains.

But with her history of being sick off and on all winter, I’d definitely get it checked out sooner rather than later just in case.

[starburst604]

Feb 18, 2019 3:40:01 GMT -5 WOUNDTIGHT said:

This exact thing happened to my DS when he was 2. It’s scary as hell! But the diagnosis was actually NBD- something called toxic synovitis. It basically sometimes appears after an illness but clears up on its own after a few days. We did x rays and everything first to make sure nothing else was wrong. But yeah when your kid suddenly stops walking it’s awful.

I was trying to remember what it was called - it was this! My DD suddenly couldn’t walk well one morning about a year ago and a trip to urgent care ended in this diagnosis. She was fine the next day but it was scary as hell to see our normally energetic toddler limping around.

[joy]

Toxic synovitis was my guess, as well.

[meganew]

Feb 18, 2019 3:40:01 GMT -5 WOUNDTIGHT said:

This exact thing happened to my DS when he was 2. It’s scary as hell! But the diagnosis was actually NBD- something called toxic synovitis. It basically sometimes appears after an illness but clears up on its own after a few days. We did x rays and everything first to make sure nothing else was wrong. But yeah when your kid suddenly stops walking it’s awful.

I just googled this and it sounds exactly like what’s going on with her. She woke up and this first thing out of her mouth was that her leg hurt : ( I’m calling the doctor now to see if they want me to bring her in.

[fivechickens]

This happened to me when I was young (5, maybe) I had been sick and then one day my legs wouldn’t work. My mom took me to the Dr and from what I remember it was related to the virus. I recently read something about this I will see if I can find the article.

Anyway, I would take her the Dr.



ETA: This is what I saw that described what was going on with me:

Benign acute myositis. In benign acute myositis, a young child suddenly develops severe leg pain and cannot walk normally. These symptoms are dramatic and frightening, but they usually disappear within a few days. Benign acute myositis usually occurs in children who are recovering from the flu or some other respiratory infection caused by a virus. Doctors are not sure whether the child's muscle symptoms are caused by the virus itself or by the body's immune reaction to the virus.

[kath16]

I remember this happening to a much younger cousin of mine after a cold. I was a teen, but I remember it being explained to me that "the virus settled in her leg bone". So... I guess that's a thing? I also remember the adults paying attention to how she was walking when she didn't know they were watching her to be sure she wasn't faking it.

Anyway, they took her to the ER (was the weekend and this was before Urgent Care was everywhere) and that's how they ended up with the virus diagnosis. She ended up being completely fine after a few days with zero long term affects. 

I'd call your dr. And if they don't take you seriously I'd take her to Urgent Care or somewhere to get x-rays to (hopefully) rule things out. I'm sorry. I hope it's nothing.

[BaliHai]

I was also going to say myositis - I had it as a kid in both legs, scared the crap out of my parents. Poor Viv. Hopefully she'll start feeling better ASAP.

[Pilsy]

It's probably one of the relatively benign conditions PPs mentioned, but we encountered something similar with my daughter, and it turned out to be PANDAS. I certainly hope that's not the case here, but if the doctors don't find an injury or other cause and it doesn't clear up, keep your eyes open for other symptoms. As far as you know, has she had strep?

[namasteak]

Feb 18, 2019 3:40:01 GMT -5 WOUNDTIGHT said:

This exact thing happened to my DS when he was 2. It’s scary as hell! But the diagnosis was actually NBD- something called toxic synovitis. It basically sometimes appears after an illness but clears up on its own after a few days. We did x rays and everything first to make sure nothing else was wrong. But yeah when your kid suddenly stops walking it’s awful.

This happened to us too! It was a few years ago but if I remember correctly there is inflammation in the body from the illness and sometimes fluid can build up around joints and cause pain.

[undecidedowl]

Sounds like it could be toxic synovitis. I never took him took him to the doctor, but I'm fairly sure DS1 had this when he was 4 yo. With my kids, I usually give it a few days if there was no injury. They are almost always better in time to avoid a doctor's visit.

[cjcouple]

It could be a fracture.

When my son was 4 he was flinching when we put on his shoe. He could walk and run but definitely had a slight limp. We brought him to the pedi and they we were moving his foot and ankle all around without issue but they did refer us to a pediatric orthopedic and sent us for xrays because frankly kids don't complain for nothing and they could see a little limp. The xrays did not show a break but did show thickening of a bone. He eventually had an MRI done for a clearer picture which was still abnormal but unclear. He had to have a bone biopsy to rule out infection or cancer and it was determined to be a break that was never caught. He wore a removable boot for a while for support and was fine after that. Definitely get it checked.

[lolo]

Feb 18, 2019 7:34:54 GMT -5 joy said:

Toxic synovitis was my guess, as well.

My guess also. It happened to DD around 18 and was super scary.

[JayhawkGirl]

My niece has bad constipation that presented this way

[isabel]

meganew, any update?

[meganew]

Feb 18, 2019 10:18:47 GMT -5 JayhawkGirl said:

My niece has bad constipation that presented this way

This is really interesting. She is constipated.

[meganew]

Feb 18, 2019 14:24:01 GMT -5 isabel said:

meganew, any update?

So, I had an appointment set for 1:30, then I gave her Tylenol this morning and she seemed to be doing better. Still had a slight limp, but no pain unless I asked her and then it was “oh yeah, it hurts!” all smiley and shit. But she was walking with weight on the leg, just on her tip toe and the leg bent- but not as bad as yesterday. So I cancelled the appointment because I figured I’d give her another day to see if it got better by itself before she needed X-rays and whatever else. I have her alternating between the heating pad and an ice pack and resting on the couch. I can move her leg all over, she doesn’t seem to have any mobility issues, and nothing is swollen or hurts to the touch- it’s just her walk that’s concerning. Of course now it’s getting worse again, because why not.

AND my son, who was diagnosed with strep on Friday, is now getting a fever again and his cough is terrible- so I have a feeling I’ll be staying home with them tomorrow no matter what!

[CloudBee]

A few kids on here (my son included) have broken legs just from jumping. (My son - twice, actually...!) It's common in the under 5 age group. And often the kids are diagnosed with the break (spiral fracture) a few days or even a week out. X-rays can be difficult to use as a diagnostic tool for toddler breaks until the injury starts to heal.

[meganew]

Feb 18, 2019 15:50:29 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

A few kids on here (my son included) have broken legs just from jumping. (My son - twice, actually...!) It's common in the under 5 age group. And often the kids are diagnosed with the break (spiral fracture) a few days or even a week out. X-rays can be difficult to use as a diagnostic tool for toddler breaks until the injury starts to heal.

She’s running on it without pain though- but her heel is just slightly elevated. Please, please, please let it be constipation!!

[foodiemom]

Not sure where the pain is but can very definitely be a fracture/break. It’s happened to two friends of mine personally with kids 2-4 years old with no known injury. Definitely take her in for a check and xrays - at the very least will give you peace of mind you don’t have a kid walking with a break or fracture.

[stinkyfeet]

Not sure where you live but Lyme could be a factor as well. Random fevers, leg pain that comes and goes....

[foodiemom]

Feb 19, 2019 19:33:33 GMT -5 stinkyfeet said:

Not sure where you live but Lyme could be a factor as well. Random fevers, leg pain that comes and goes....

Yes! Such a good point, this was the major sign my 3 year old had right before he was diagnosed one year in December.

[maybeimamazed]

I really really don't want to freak you the fuck out, because it probably isn't this, but this sounds similar enough to how things started with my son that I wanted to post, because there are almost no symptoms until it's gotten advanced. My son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last year-- March 4th. It started with a low grade fever that would last 3 or 4 days, then go away, then come back. He'd complain of leg pain, but that too would come and go. When I look back-- it started around mid January and was March 4th until diagnosis. How is her energy? Appetite?
Again I'm sorry and it probably isn't this.

[meganew]

Feb 19, 2019 23:53:52 GMT -5 maybeimamazed said:

I really really don't want to freak you the fuck out, because it probably isn't this, but this sounds similar enough to how things started with my son that I wanted to post, because there are almost no symptoms until it's gotten advanced. My son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last year-- March 4th. It started with a low grade fever that would last 3 or 4 days, then go away, then come back. He'd complain of leg pain, but that too would come and go. When I look back-- it started around mid January and was March 4th until diagnosis. How is her energy? Appetite?
Again I'm sorry and it probably isn't this.

Hey, don’t apologize! I’m so sorry about your son and I appreciate you looking out for others. Her appetite has been pretty consistent, her leg pain is totally gone and she walked around at the aquarium today on her field trip with no issue. Her energy level is pretty high, but she does seem to get that “over tired whiny” attitude occasionally. The thing about her fevers is that they’re rarely low grade- they’re crazy high. But it’s something to think about if the pain comes back or if the fevers pop up again.

[fancynewbeesly]

Feb 19, 2019 23:53:52 GMT -5 maybeimamazed said:

I really really don't want to freak you the fuck out, because it probably isn't this, but this sounds similar enough to how things started with my son that I wanted to post, because there are almost no symptoms until it's gotten advanced. My son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last year-- March 4th. It started with a low grade fever that would last 3 or 4 days, then go away, then come back. He'd complain of leg pain, but that too would come and go. When I look back-- it started around mid January and was March 4th until diagnosis. How is her energy? Appetite?
Again I'm sorry and it probably isn't this.

I am so sorry to hear this. I didn’t want to say anything either but leg pain was the one symptom of my daughter’s leukemia diagnosis. Usually leg pain is nothing but sometimes it can definitely be something else. How is your son doing?

[maybeimamazed]

Feb 20, 2019 4:55:42 GMT -5 meganew said:

Feb 19, 2019 23:53:52 GMT -5 maybeimamazed said:

I really really don't want to freak you the fuck out, because it probably isn't this, but this sounds similar enough to how things started with my son that I wanted to post, because there are almost no symptoms until it's gotten advanced. My son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last year-- March 4th. It started with a low grade fever that would last 3 or 4 days, then go away, then come back. He'd complain of leg pain, but that too would come and go. When I look back-- it started around mid January and was March 4th until diagnosis. How is her energy? Appetite?
Again I'm sorry and it probably isn't this.

Hey, don’t apologize! I’m so sorry about your son and I appreciate you looking out for others. Her appetite has been pretty consistent, her leg pain is totally gone and she walked around at the aquarium today on her field trip with no issue. Her energy level is pretty high, but she does seem to get that “over tired whiny” attitude occasionally. The thing about her fevers is that they’re rarely low grade- they’re crazy high. But it’s something to think about if the pain comes back or if the fevers pop up again.

Good to hear her leg is feeling better! I think that you would get "that feeling" if something more serious was going on-- I had it but I kept brushing it off like I was over concerned.