The child is 20 months old. The parents say that their doctor told them to make an appointment to see a neurologist for a work-up but they were worried and the appointment line said it would be a few weeks before he could be seen. The child has been intermittently refusing to walk for 6 weeks and they want some answers.
About six weeks ago he seemed to be in his usual state of good health. He was playing and was struck in the right shin by a toy wagon. He cried and stopped bearing weight on the right leg. Since that time he’s seen his pediatrician several times and an orthopedist as well. Sometimes he’ll begin to bear weight again but then he stops. Over the time period he had a cold, lost some weight, ran a fever, but nothing that has persisted. Four days ago he began to refuse to crawl. Back to the orthopedist, where labs were sent including a CBC, ESR, CRP, ANA and Rheumatoid factor. The CRP came back mildly elevated at 2.2. The ANA and Rheumatoid factor were negative. However, the CBC and ESR clotted and the patient was sent home before the test results were known or could be repeated. The orthopedic note ended with a plan to do a bone scan in the near future. The pediatrician felt that the on-again, off-again weight bearing might be a neurologic problem and said he would refer for a work-up.
On examination, you don’t find much. The vital signs are unremarkable. The child is sitting up on the gurney, looking at a picture book. He begins to cry and fuss when you try to examine him. He has no redness, swelling or deformity anywhere along the right leg, no obvious point tenderness, and you are able to put all joints through passive range of motion without any more fussing then he was already exhibiting when you first approached him. His neuro exam seems nonfocal, as best you can tell given his age and limited cooperation. He certainly doesn’t appear to have any weakness in the right leg but when his mother stands him he draws it up and refuses to put weight on it.
So, struck in the leg 6 weeks ago with a history of refusal to walk on and off again ever since. Two sets of negative plain films. What could this be?
Trauma: The mother clearly feels that the wagon bumping into him corresponded with the onset of his symptoms. Frequent traumatic injuries in children under 4 yrs of age include toddler’s fracture, stress fracture, or child abuse. Sometimes fractures are subtle and don’t show up on initial plain films. But over the course of six weeks you’d think he would have had time to develop subperiosteal new bone formation. That isn’t generally hard to spot on plain films.
Infection: Common causes of infectious limp in a toddler include septic arthritis, transient synovitis and osteomyelitis. The exam doesn’t really point to a particular joint and the course is a bit long for septic arthritis. You’d think an experienced Orthopedist who’s been following this kid would of picked it up by now. Transient synovitis of the hip is also usually of fairly brief duration. But osteomyelitis is a thought. At this point a bone scan might be a nice way to look for this. Of course, it’s after hours and Radiology isn’t going to do it tonight.
Rounding out the list of frequently etiologies of limping in very young children are the congenital causes (think developmental dysplasia of the hip) and neuromuscular problems, such as cerebral palsy. Neither should suddenly appear in a previously normal toddler, should they?
OK, time to consider less common causes. People limp for three reasons: pain, weakness, and deformity. The child has good muscle tone and strength; maybe weakness is less likely. If the child had a congenital deformity, it should have shown up before this. You decide to focus your differential on pain.
Six weeks of painful limp? Think fracture, inflammation, infection. At this point you definitely want to pursue blood work. And what else could cause bone pain? Maybe this is a bit more sinister. You also heard the mother mention fever and weight loss over this time period. She attributed it to a URI and sinus infection. But maybe there is a malignancy. Too bad that CBC clotted a few days ago. Time to repeat it.
You grab an order sheet. Although plain films have been done already, they remain the highest-yielding screening test in a child with limp. You order X-rays from the hip on down. The bone scan you want you can’t have, so save that thought for now. A CBC, ESR, and CRP are also excellent screens for inflammation, infection, and hematologic malignancy.
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There’s a rule in medicine: If you don’t think of it, you can’t diagnose it. Don’t forget to add acute leukemia to your differential diagnosis of limping in a child. A reasonable work-up for a limp you just cannot figure out or localize is a set of plain films, CBC, ESR, and CRP. This won’t always find the cause but is a great way to get started and will pick up most of what you’re looking for.
Amy Levine, MD, is an associate professor of pediatric emergency medicine at UNC Chapel Hill
38 Comments
thanks for this article
my baby start limping after fever she is only one year and half -am waiting for her labs and am v worry
My granddaughter fell last week and sprained her ankle. She is 21 months. It was just a sprain a week ago she refuses to put foot down what should we do…
Very helpful article, to keep us Pediatricians in the front line on our toes. May I repeat your point that what this child had is an uncommon cause of limping in a child, so that parents don’t get unnecessarily alarmed when there is a much more likely reason for their child to limp at this age (one of them is transient synovitis of the hip), but that lasts only a few days, not months.
Thanks for the article.
My little girl is now 23 months, three and a half months ago she had her mmr shots and six days later had an awful limp not even able to stand. This went on for a couple days and went away, a week and a half later came back. This went on for about ten weeks. She has had three blood tests with raised crp and she has never been a great sleeper.
In and out of Dr’s, one Dr said he had seen it before, doesn’t know what it is, but it will go away….so I turned to google spending countless hours searching and her symptoms always matched JRA. The pediatrician treating her never sent her for testing so did not find out if that may be it…and then I came across a I site that said dairy allergy can cause raised crp and arthritis…I took her off dairy and she now sleeps better, crys less, and the limp has not come back. The pediatrician said dairy has nothing to do with it and was annoyed I took my daughter off of it.
Her crp was still slightly elevated after two weeks of being mostly dairy free, grandparents seem to have a hard time listening to what I feel is right for my child.
I am still waiting to see an allergist and for results of stool sample…loosing faith in system wondering who else I can go to for answers.
My niece has been showing signs of eczema and constipation/gas~my sister thought possible dairy intolerance…now today she had a little fever when she woke up (it was 99) and she won’t put weight on her one leg and refuses to walk. Otherwise she is fine, she has an appetite, she is playful and alert; fever went away by naptime but the refusal to walk has my sister sick. I said it might be food/allergy related because I know when I have exposure to my allergen (gluten) my joints will ache for days…
could there be a relation between the limping and dairy intolerance???
Lou, we have had simaler situation to you have you gotten any answers? 3 weeks on and we are still searching for answers?
I have a happy healthy 19 month year old, who is displaying the same symptoms. She had surgery for hip dysplasia a year ago and appart from the angle on her being being higher at 28 degree instead of the 20 we hoped for she has been running around and developing like a ‘normal’ child.
3 weeks ago, we noticed that she was having trouble walking , which turned into an intermittent limp. We have been back and forth to the hospital as she has been diagnosed with Snapping tendon?! Perthe’s disease and irritable hip, all in the space of a week. The doctors are not interested and not helping the situation. Finally i demanded blood work, where her ESR can back as 84, however her CPR was normal, but she is still intermittedly limping, with nobody trying to find the cause or help with a diagnosis! She has had x-ray to see if her hip was dislocated – it wasn’t but we keep getting ignored as medically, except for the pain / discomfort and ESR there is nothing wrong with her to look at.
Whilst in hospital her ESR lowered but her white blood count raised before we were discharged – but we still have found no reason. If you are a private consultant, please help me with this matter. As on my own and with the help of the internet, i have come to two conclusions of what it could be: juvenile arthritus or leukemia!
Johnny here from Ottawa,
My 26 months boy started to fall a lot in the last couple of months. It got worse as the time went by.
In the last couple of days he is unable to stand even with a wall or sofa support he can hardly stands.
We took him to emergency, they did couple of tests and still to do MRI (brian and spinal) and some more blood tests.
They checked CK level for muscle problems and seemed not elevated and normal, also checked the nerve signal and using shock waves and seemed ok too.
He has been very healthy since birth and always top of the charts in terms of weight and height. Still weights good (15KG).
Very stressful and not sure what is going on. Anyone thoughts?
Hi Johnny My daughter is the same she used to fall a lot and she stopped standing or walking at 13 months after her vaccination. We took her to emergency and they diagnosed it as chronic inflammatory demylinating polyneuropathy. The MRI of brain and Spine and Lumbar puncture all came ok but the nerve conduction showed axonal loss.
It has been a year my daughter received IVIG . Her falling has stopped but she still has not gained strength to walk or stand
Same with my nephew he is in ICU now unable to walk they are thinking metabolic syndrome waiting spinal tap my nephew os almost 2
This article is very informative. I pray this is not the case with my 16 month old toddler. He fell on his left leg while playing. It was a very smal fall where he simply over extended his leg while walking with his toy truck. He hasn’t been able to walk since and it’s been 3 days. We took him in the morning after he fell for X-rays and there was no sign of fracture. He also ran a fever today. I am very concerned and am taking him in tomorrow to ask for blood work. I had a bad feeling about this before when I saw on a forum another mother went through this and her child was diagnosed with cancer. It just seemed weird to me that a small fall could cause him not to walk for three days now!
Did you ever determine the cause?
My 21 month old has problems walking in the morning. Will either crawl, limb or lay until I pick her up. After about 2 hours, she starts to walk again. I seen the ped. She did blood work (came back viral?) and x ray cane back fine. She told me to give her Motrin daily for the pain and if it continues go back in. I’m wondering if she is simply walking through the pain. Or us her legs just numb? Poor circulation?
Hello my 2 year old have same symptoms symptoms as your daughter. When he wake up in the morning he can’t walk, and after I help him walk for 10-15 mins he start to walk normal again. I seen his pedi we did Uls, blood test, x-ray it all came normal but every morning he has pain. How’s your daughter doing now? Did you guys got any answers why she can’t walk? Please let me know Thankyou
I am in desperate need of help, like many of you. Took my 17 month old to the park 3 weeks ago, we played, ran on the trails, etc. Got home and he wouldn’t use his right leg, crying out in pain, try to put him down and he draws his leg up. He has since been doing it occasionally for about 30 minutes at a time. However over the last 4 days he has done it 2-4 times daily. Took him in to the doctor, did x rays, blood work, rheumatoid factor, everything came back completely normal. They want to send us to the Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, 4 hour drive for us, so they can try to figure out what is wrong. I am at a loss and need to figure out why my kiddo all of a sudden can’t walk and screams in pain and then 45 minutes later is perfectly fine.
Katie, did you ever receive a diagnosis? Something similar happened to my 2.5 yr old. Playing at the park, he jumped off a tall platform and immediately cried out in pain that his ankle hurt. Wouldn’t bear weight on it, but x-rays were normal. (That same day, he came down with a stomach bug.) We put him in a boot and 3 weeks later he was walking fine without the boot. That was 3 weeks ago. Today he has been crying and complaining of pain in his knee and has intermittently refused to bear weight on it…but then 10 minutes later he’s running around outside. He has a bad cold right now but no fever. I’m thinking I definitely need to have blood work done, but possibly transient synovitis?
Hi Katie,
Same thing here with 18 months son : 1 episode 1 months ago and another episode last tuesday. Doing the X rays tomorrow. Last blood work showed nothing to worry. Did you have any news?
Hi Katie,
I know it’s four years later but I’m wondering what you discovered. My 2 year old grandson is experiencing the same thing. He is active and suddenly will not put weight on his left leg. After 30-60 minutes he is running around like it never happened. My son took him to the pediatrician who said she didn’t see anything. Xrays were normal. Does anyone else have updates?
Two mornings ago I noticed that my 18-month son had a limp as if something was wrong with his right leg. I checked every inch of his leg from hip to toes and rest of his body. There are no signs of injury, redness, bruise, cut, no swelling, nothing stuck in the sole of his foot. I noticed yesterday that he was slightly arching his right foot as if not to place the entire sole on the floor. Checked for pain. He’s not showing any sign of pain even when I move all his joints. He is still his usual playful self, no fever etc. At a loss what to make of this.
Hi Shanda,
Have you got an answer what is it?
My 3.5 years old daughter is displaying the exactly same symptoms. She still can walk but I can see she is not putting weight on her left leg, if she walk fast or run, she would fall to the floor. there is no signs of injury or pain.
We went to see GP today but he cannot tell what is it.
Hi, my 21 month old suddenly stopped walking (unable to bear weight on his left leg) 4 months ago now for one entire day. The next day woke up completely fine. This happened again last week on the same left leg and he struggled to walk on it for a few days. This was alongside a virus so they put it down to Transient Synovitis even though the X-rays and ultrasounds came back showing nothing. I am not convinced. I am stressing myself out so much hoping it isn’t leukaemia. We are due for second round of bloods in 3 weeks to see it his white blood cells have risen from last bloods. Can someone please reassure me that this can happen without it being leukaemia? I haven’t sleet for weeks.
Same thing happened with 21 months my son
We did X ray and plood exams all normal
This is 6 weaks from he stoped walk
when i was 7 i stopped walking m for nearly a year missed all of grade 2 but i stated to walk again.now i am 73 years old and i have been diagnosed with mitochondria disorder which is affecting my legs and other things had this all my life…….gentic disorder
My 13-month old son woke up one morning screaming and showing obvious signs of pain, checked him for a bug bite, something poking him in his clothing, diaper rash, etc.- Nothing found except when I touched his left leg and tried to extend it he screamed louder. Within a weeks time, we had (2) Hospital Visit. The first visit, they did X-ray of leg and said all was clear. Possible case of Toxic Synovitis- Motrin every 6 hours and will be back to normal in a few days. 6 days later was not getting better, only with the Motrin- when he didn’t have it he was back to day 1 pain. Took him to a different ER a few towns over and they drew labs, At this time mentioned to the DR. a concern for cancer and she said she wasn’t concerned but the blood work would tell more. Blood work came back perfectly normal. 5 days later we had a follow up with our primary Dr. who did all range of motion test and everything seemed to be ok, did slightly flinch when touching the top of the left calve but other then that nothing major. Sent us for another x-ray of the hip because the hospital said they did it but on the image was not done. Went to x-ray the next morning, the following afternoon called to explain everything was normal. Gave us a referral to a pediatric orthopedic Dr. 4 hours away if we wanted to pursue MRI. At this time he seemed like he was already turning a corner, seemed better after 3 weeks he was back to his normal self with a bout of separation anxiety from being poked and prodded at all these appointments. Yesterday was exactly 1 month from it all happening and this morning he woke up and is acting like his right leg is now causing him pain. In between this time, I should mention he has gotten 2 molars in, has felt warm to the touch but the thermometer has only ever read 98.4, has had bouts of diarrhea and very bad gas. 2 weeks ago I stopped giving him whole milk cause I thought it was causing his tummy issues. He hardly wants to eat much unless it’s breastmilk or jello… I am at a loss. Have another Dr. appointment coming up this Thursday….this is so hard.
I should also add, there is no visible sign of injury. No swelling, no hot to the touch, no bruising, no nothing. I’m at a loss. He has developed a rash on his legs, but not sure if its a sweat rash or allergy rash from the dairy/milk.
Any update?
My 16 month old fell on Monday and has been limping since. I’m really worried after reading all of this! He’s not swollen or bruised. I’m taking him to the emergency.
Hello,
I have two and half year old son who suddenly stops walking. He went to bed and when he woke up the next morning, he could not put his feet on the floor. He refused to stand up. When I observe, he had problem putting his right leg on the floor. I try to see if something was broken, but there was no apparent sign of fracture or pain I told my son to move his leg while sitting on the sofa. He moved without any difficulties but he still refuse to walk. I took a video to show it to my Pediatrician. Then we were preparing to take him to the hospital. In the meantime, my mom was feeding him the cereal and suddenly he wanted to come down the table. So we put him down, suddenly he started taking steps but he still had lots of difficulties so he held to the wall and took some steps. He took some steps and stop walking and sat on the floor. So I picked him up and placed him on the bed. After 5 minutes, my uncle came to see what’s wrong with my son. So I told my son that uncle brought a lollipop so he came down on his own and started walking without any support ( there was some limpiness though) but with in 2 minutes he was his usual normal with running and jumping and walking as nothing happened.
All this episode lasted for about two hours.
From no walking to standing on his on
to walking few steps with support
to walking with some limpness
to his normal walking and running.
My son had few episodes where he showed sign of limpness. But not anything major. But the last episode was very major. We show his Pediatrician and blood work is underway. Awaiting the blood results and further investigation. But anything would help.
Any updates guys ?
I have a three year old son that displayed the same symptoms that Arif and Jeniffer elicited here. I just noticed the symptoms on my boy today and I will sleep over it and if it continues tomorrow I am going to take him directly to ER. It’s frightening and hope it is nothing major.
Any updates!? My very active 3.5 yr old daughter slept fine jumping and playing around with her elder brother…woke up with pain the next morning grabbing her inner thigh, knee area….does not bear weight on her right leg….this was 3 days back, we are on Motrin 2-3 TIMES DAILY….X rays and blood work is normal from ER visit…they were suspecting infection which came out negative….no fever..otherwise fine except pain in upper thigh knee area and not bearing weight at all….suddenly over active child has become immobile…my heart is breaking into pieces….she didnt have any cold/other infection prior to this to conclude for toxic synovitis….plz do share your opinions/inputs/results… scared to put her through invasive testing or should we wait for her to get better in case it is muscle strain….
Any answers to what it could be? Does your babies went back to walking normally? I have a 20 month old that has the symptoms. Doctor said it’s a toxic inflammatory since all his labs, xray and ultrasound are normal. It’s been 4 days since he stopped putting weight on his right leg.
@judy, how is your baby doing
I found this thread when we were looking for answers about the same symptoms in our 30 month old. Normal, healthy, super active and then out of nowhere he quit using his left leg. Woke up crying in pain and would not let us touch it. X-RAYS normal. This went on for two weeks. Doctor’s said nothing appeared abnormal. It suddenly seemed to clear up on it’s own. A week later….right leg. Even worse. Held it tight to his body, would not extend it at all and screamed if it was moved. This was only a few hours after he had been running with his brothers. Took him in for blood work and it came back normal. It has been two weeks and he suddenly started walking on his own again and seems fine. My wife measured his height and found he had grown over a 3/4 inch in last few weeks. Since no one has given us any answers, I’m starting to believe that it is extreme growing pain/body changing.
Does anyone above who has written have any answers on what what diagnosed in the end?? We are 15 months old – 2 weeks into no weight bearing on the right hand side (after lots of walking/cruising/standing etc)… We’ve had MRI Brian, Spine and Lumber Puncture – all clear (thank goodness). We’ve had X-Rays, Ultrasound of right leg and hips – all clear. Bloodwork unremarkable and clear of anything sinister. We were diagnosed with Transient Synovitis but now Dr’s are concerned as no improvement still. I’d love to know the outcomes of your situations above?? Kristina – Sydney, Australia.
I’m just here because of the same reason as everyone else.
3.5 year old son woke up yesterday and couldn’t bear weight on this right leg complaining of pain in his knee.
xray and ultrasound all clear and he seems to be almost normal again today.
no blood work was done but i’m going to push for it to rule anything else out. i want to know if anyone else came back with results.
Hi Matt, how is he doing?
Hi,
My 2 year old grandson experienced this. He is active and out of the blue he wouldn’t put weight on his left leg. He cried rubbing his knee. He slowly attempted to get up and immediately sat down again. After 30 minutes he was up and walking. This has happened twice. Pediatrician said he was fine. X rays were normal. But I don’t think this is normal. Does anyone have any updates? Thank you.
Hi Colleen did this get better?