My son recently turned 3, and apart from the normal scrapes and an allergy to strawberries he has been a very healthy child.

After a trip to the safari park with our local playgroup, he started to complain of pain in his knee, at first I just assumed that this was from spending too much time sitting on a coach but the following day he was still complaining and had developed a slight limp.He didn’t seem overly concerned and wasn’t in pain, he was just finding it difficult to walk and as the day went on he started to use the furniture as support, which I was slightly concerned about.

On the following day, he jumped straight out of bed and tried to walk but obviously was in too much discomfort and started to crawl. Again, the pain wasn’t making him cry but he just couldn’t walk at all. At this point I decided I should definitely take him to the doctors as the limp was obviously not getting any better. I managed to get an appointment for a few hours later, much to my relief and I carried a very distressed boy in with me. As he didn’t go to the doctors very often it was all a bit alien to him.
As soon as I described the symptoms to the doctor she was very serious and enquired why I had decided to bring him in. It transpired that they take limps in children extremely seriously especially if they come on suddenly like this. I have to say I was quite frightened by the details she was telling me – 80% of limps clear up by themselves but the remaining may need treatment, even a brace fitting. The doctor gave him a thorough examination, checking his knee, back and hips. She felt that the pain that he was referring to as being in his knee was actually hip pain. Her advice was to keep him off his leg as much as possible, and as it was Friday, see how he got on over the weekend and to bring him back on Monday – regardless of how his limp was. Depending on how his limp would be on Monday would determine whether he was to be referred for blood tests and scans. She also mentioned that the likely cause could be transient synovitis of the hip.

I got home and the first thing I did was ‘Google’ the possible diagnosis. I found out that:

Transient synovitis of the hip is an inflammation and swelling of the tissues around the hip joint. Usually only one hip is affected. This condition is called "transient" because it lasts only a short time. Transient synovitis of the hip is the most common cause of sudden hip pain in children.

Transient synovitis of the hip usually occurs in children between 3 and 10 years old. Sometimes it occurs in children younger than 3. It is more common in boys than in girls.
It might be due to a virus or it might be from an allergic reaction to an infection somewhere else in the body. This reassured me and there was additional information to say that often children complain of knee pain when it is actually in the hip.

The limp was as severe on Saturday as it had been on Friday and we managed to keep him off his leg for the majority of the day by taking him out in his buggy. Fortunately by Sunday there was a definite improvement and by Monday the limp was all but gone, much to my relief. The doctor was very pleased with his progress and confirmed that it had been transient synovitis of the hip. She advised that even if there was a slight limp in a week’s time to take him back but thankfully he is now back to his normal bouncy self.

Hopefully you will never have this problem but I wanted to share this story as it is something that very few people are aware of.