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Leg Pain and Limping
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Children, especially older children who are active, can develop leg pain or a limp after a sport's injury. If your child has leg pain and/or a limp, and it is not associated with a known injury, or if he is not improving in a few days then you should seek medical attention. Also, you should see you doctor if your child has leg pain or a limp and has fever, or if he refuses to bear weight on his legs.
- Sport's Injuries: limping or pain can occur after a sport's injury, such as a knee or ankle sprain, or muscle strain. If pain or limping persists, or if your child is unable to bear weight on his leg, then you should see your doctor.
- Toddler's fracture: this is a common cause of limping in younger children and it involves a fracture of one of the bones in the lower part of the leg (tibia) that can occur after a simple fall. Although your child may complain of pain and refuse to walk, there is usually minimal redness or swelling around the fracture, and so it can make this type of fracture difficult to diagnosis, but it should be suspected in children aged 2 - 4 years of age who refuse to walk or who are irritable.
- Legg-Perthes: causes a limp and/or leg pain in children who are three to ten years old. Although the cause is not known, in this condition the blood supply to the top of the thigh bone is interrupted. This causes the bone to stop growing, until the blood supply resumes. Children with Legg-Perthes are usually treated with leg exercises, crutches, casts, bracing, and occasionally traction or surgery. With proper treatment, the bone will grow back and your child will be able to walk normally without pain.
- Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis: SCFE is a common hip disorder in overweight adolescents, and it can cause severe pain in the hip, knee pain, limited movement of the hip and limping. Diagnosis is by x-ray of the hips.
- Leg length differences: some children are either born with or develop a difference in the length on the bones in their legs. For minor differences of 0-2 cm no treatment is usually necessary or a shoe lift may be used. Larger differences in length of 5-15 cm require surgery to either lengthen the shorter leg or shorten the longer leg or a prosthesis may need to be worn on the shorter leg.
- Growing pains: this is a common condition that can cause leg pain in children aged 5-10, especially during times of rapid growth. The pain usually occurs at night, is usually not very well localized and may occur in different places each night. This condition should not cause your child to limp and should not limit his activities in any way and is usually made better if you massage or rub on the affected areas.
- Other causes of leg pain and limping include osteomyelitis, an infection of the bones that can cause pain, usually with fever, arthritis, which will also cause swelling and redness of one or more joints, and bone tumors. See your doctor if you suspect that your child has one of these conditions.
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