Toddler Limping, No Pain, No fever

[Deepa]

Hello All,
I have a two year old. And he is limping(Right Leg) since last two day
but he did not complain about any pain. He does not have any fever or
High Temperature.

Before we took him to Emergency we touched with a very little pressure
all over his legs, hip, back and stomach to find out if he has any
pain to locate the reason for his limping. But he does not seem to
have any pain anywhere in the body. He is not crying or whining.

He is very active kid and is difficult for me to beleive that he is
immitating someone or doing it on purpose. X-Ray of his Knees and
Hip-thighs region did not reveal anything. Blood Test was done(I don't
have the details about it) but it was done to rule out Bacterial or
Viral infection and nothing was found there too. Doctor suggested
Rheumatoid arthritis to be a reason. But did not refer to
Rheumatologist becase this is the first time my son is limping and it
is too early to conclude Rheumatoid arthritis.

I am very worried about it. Please advice and suggest.

Thanks
Deepa

[user]

On 8 Nov 2003 23:46:40 -0800, Deepa > wrote:
> Hello All,
> I have a two year old. And he is limping(Right Leg) since last two day
> but he did not complain about any pain. He does not have any fever or
> High Temperature.
>
> Before we took him to Emergency we touched with a very little pressure
> all over his legs, hip, back and stomach to find out if he has any
> pain to locate the reason for his limping. But he does not seem to
> have any pain anywhere in the body. He is not crying or whining.
>
> He is very active kid and is difficult for me to beleive that he is
> immitating someone or doing it on purpose. X-Ray of his Knees and
> Hip-thighs region did not reveal anything. Blood Test was done(I don't
> have the details about it) but it was done to rule out Bacterial or
> Viral infection and nothing was found there too. Doctor suggested
> Rheumatoid arthritis to be a reason. But did not refer to
> Rheumatologist becase this is the first time my son is limping and it
> is too early to conclude Rheumatoid arthritis.

I'm curious as to why the doctor said it was too early. I had
been diagnosed fairly quickly ( I'm told... ) with rheumatoid
arthritis when I was two years old, as well, because I had been limping.

And, well, they were right.

[PF Riley]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 02:09:45 GMT, user > wrote:

>On 8 Nov 2003 23:46:40 -0800, Deepa > wrote:
>> Hello All,
>> I have a two year old. And he is limping(Right Leg) since last two day
>> but he did not complain about any pain. He does not have any fever or
>> High Temperature.
>>
>> Before we took him to Emergency we touched with a very little pressure
>> all over his legs, hip, back and stomach to find out if he has any
>> pain to locate the reason for his limping. But he does not seem to
>> have any pain anywhere in the body. He is not crying or whining.
>>
>> He is very active kid and is difficult for me to beleive that he is
>> immitating someone or doing it on purpose. X-Ray of his Knees and
>> Hip-thighs region did not reveal anything. Blood Test was done(I don't
>> have the details about it) but it was done to rule out Bacterial or
>> Viral infection and nothing was found there too. Doctor suggested
>> Rheumatoid arthritis to be a reason. But did not refer to
>> Rheumatologist becase this is the first time my son is limping and it
>> is too early to conclude Rheumatoid arthritis.
>
> I'm curious as to why the doctor said it was too early. I had
>been diagnosed fairly quickly ( I'm told... ) with rheumatoid
>arthritis when I was two years old, as well, because I had been limping.
>
> And, well, they were right.

Yet more often you'd be wrong, if you jump to such a conclusion after
just two days of symptoms. Rheumatologists do not consider you to have
JRA unless you have had symptoms for six weeks or more.

In this case, you are assuming (1) that the limp is actually being
caused by a monoarticular arthritis (when instead it could be an
occult injury or discitis), and (2) that this arthritis won't just
disappear quickly and never recur.

PF

[Bill Fischer]

Deepa,

This could also be caused by a bruise or sprain.

Occasionally, especially in the very young, a fracture may not be
evident on X-Ray for the first few days.

If his condition is worsening, take him to his pediatrician today. Also,
if he is no better in a few days, take him to his pediatrician.

Some diagnoses aren't apparent on day two. They require follow-up.

Deepa wrote:
> Hello All,
> I have a two year old. And he is limping(Right Leg) since last two day
> but he did not complain about any pain. He does not have any fever or
> High Temperature.
>
> Before we took him to Emergency we touched with a very little pressure
> all over his legs, hip, back and stomach to find out if he has any
> pain to locate the reason for his limping. But he does not seem to
> have any pain anywhere in the body. He is not crying or whining.
>
> He is very active kid and is difficult for me to beleive that he is
> immitating someone or doing it on purpose. X-Ray of his Knees and
> Hip-thighs region did not reveal anything. Blood Test was done(I don't
> have the details about it) but it was done to rule out Bacterial or
> Viral infection and nothing was found there too. Doctor suggested
> Rheumatoid arthritis to be a reason. But did not refer to
> Rheumatologist becase this is the first time my son is limping and it
> is too early to conclude Rheumatoid arthritis.
>
> I am very worried about it. Please advice and suggest.
>
> Thanks
> Deepa

[PF Riley]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 07:57:37 -0800, Bill Fischer
> wrote:

>Deepa,
>
>This could also be caused by a bruise or sprain.
>
>Occasionally, especially in the very young, a fracture may not be
>evident on X-Ray for the first few days.
>
>If his condition is worsening, take him to his pediatrician today. Also,
>if he is no better in a few days, take him to his pediatrician.
>
>Some diagnoses aren't apparent on day two. They require follow-up.

Common things being common, he probably has an occult spiral fracture
of the tibia (toddler's fracture) which can be the result of minor,
often unwitnessed trauma.

Give the lower portion of his lower leg a good squeeze and see if he
yelps. If so, an x-ray perhaps 10 days after onset of symptoms may
show signs of the fracture, which is typically not visible on initial
x-rays.

PF

[Nikki]

Deepa wrote:
> Hello All,
> I have a two year old. And he is limping(Right Leg) since last two day
> but he did not complain about any pain. He does not have any fever or
> High Temperature.

The other responses are excellent and certainly more informational then this
one. Does he have something in his foot, or something like a wart? I
recently had such a tiny peice of glass in my foot that I couldn't see it,
nor a mark where it went in. It was definatly there though and it didn't
hurt when I was just sitting there but it did hurt when I walked on it. I
didn't limp because I didn't want the glass breaker to feel bad but I wanted
to :-) I know this is a not likely option but wanted to toss it in there.
I sure hope he is well soon!

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

[misslizzie]

My son is 2 years, 5 months and displaying identical symptoms but with the
left leg. The doctor has mentioned Perthes disease, we are told to wait
until he has been limping for three weeks before doing diagnostic tests.
We are resting his leg as much as possible for a two year old to rest. I
wonder what the outcome was with your child Deepa.
Thanks.