Pain - Henderson,NV

If the x-ray shows nothing, ask for a referral to ortho and an MRI. Pain is a symptom of something, and "growing pains" don't cause a child to fall 4 times in a day. It's something. We could speculate, but the specialist can get you an answer.

You've gotten some good things here to take to the doctor. I'd ask the doctor to rule every one of them out. A blood test will test for Lyme's.

Osgood Schlatter.

It's basically an injury to the knee but it can also be where the leg bone has grown but the tendon hasn't caught up. It's painful but heals when the tendon stretches enough to be the length it needs to be for the bone.

Sometimes reading these things will cause you undue stress, but
I just wanted to mention did she happen to mean a bruised bone?

We've had that and it can be very painful. It will heal, but you basically rest the limb as much as possible and I think we had to use pain medication for it. When that happened to us, we thought our child had a broken bone. The x-ray confirmed it wasn't.

Hopefully it's nothing major. When my children have injured their knees, they often walk funny or use their thighs muscles more (instead of their knees) so that could possibly put strain on the thigh or rest of leg. I'd just suggest putting the leg up and resting it as much as possible until you see the doctor again.

I've never known growing pains to go on for four days. What does his pediatrician say?

It could be growing pains... His bones hit a growth spurt before the rest of his body, and it's painful while the body is catching up. Lots of kids go through it, with varying amounts of severity. The pain being in his knee and thigh would make sense if this is the case.

My daughter woke up one morning when she was almost 3yo and couldn't walk. I knew she hadn't fallen or injured herself but her knee was swollen. She had Lymes Disease.

Could be growing pains. My son's are all over 6ft tall. They had growth spurts and complained about their legs hurting. But it's good you had the xray. one son started limping. No accidents but somehow managed to fracture a bone on his ankle. The did an xray where they put dye in and told him cool now you are like spider man. But it was hurt. So good you didn't let her blow it off.

yes... but it'll take me a moment to google the name of what I am thinking of.
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Transient Synovitis (or Toxic Synovitis)

My son (around age 5 or so) had something that fit all of the descriptors for this. He had recently had a cold virus, and then had all the pain symptoms and inability to bear weight. We were out of town, and took him to an ER, petrified. They found nothing amiss, except some electrolyte imbalances--that, according to them, weren't really even for sure off, b/c of his age, the baseline wasn't accurate.
He was fine in about 48 hours, never to have any further problems.
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For the record, my son did not have pain in his hips, either. His pain was in his leg/thigh. He refused to stand up at all. Had to be carried, b/c it hurt to bear any weight. And he was not a child who liked to be carried, ever. It was very atypical for him. We were on the road traveling and he couldn't even walk to the restroom on his own, my husband had to carry him. As long as he was not bearing weight on it, he was fine. But he could not walk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_synovitis
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/t...

My daughter gets knee pain sometimes (she is 9) and her doctor wasn't concerned, unless she was limping or unable to put weight on it. Glad you are following up with your Ped, but I think it's what Gamma G says. That's what I found in my research as well.

I suggest that she did not blow it off. She ordered an x-ray. Blowing it off would've been no follow up. I suggest she was trying to relieve your fears. I wouldn't worry/be upset expecting the worse at this point. It is nearly certain that this is not serious. Kids and adults have unexplained pains often. He could have bruised it or twisted his leg while playing for example and neither you or him realized it. I've had knee and thigh pain when I fell and twisted sidewise while my foot remained pointed forward. The pain lasted several days. Good you took him to doctor since you are worried.

It is most likely growing pains. My daughter who is 5 also has the same complaints. She will wail at times. She will refuse to walk at times. For her, it is just growing pains. Boy, is she dramatic about it sometimes! I will rub her leg, hug her, get out a heating pad, and as a last resort give her children's pain meds. But keep in mind that there is a small small chance your son could have rheumatoid arthritis. My nephew limped and complained of leg pain since he could speak but he's also a very dramatic little boy who loves attention. His mom noticed he would switch legs and be fine some days and complaining another day. So, she thought it must be growing pains or even a little "faking it" for attention. It turns out at age 7 he was finally diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. He takes shots and medicine now and it has helped a lot.

Definitely could be growing pains.

My daughter complained of knee pain - no swelling or bruising and she could walk. She dances so I knew very well she could have hurt it dancing, which she did. She has runners knee in that knee. So she wears a brace when she dances to help keep the patella in place.

If he is still in pain and the x-ray is clear, you could always work with a physical therapist to help build strength.

If your mommy instincts are kicking in, always listen to those. Better to rule things out then worry and wonder for too long.

Personally I would keep pushing for answers, One of my students is in surgery TODAY for an osteosarcoma (tumor) just above his knee. It started out as knee pain, and they started looking into it. They were not expecting to find that, but here he is (he is going to be fine, but there was chemo involved and now the surgery). Reading below there are many possibilities for knee pain (osteosarcoma in kids is very rare). So my point is, keep having them look into it if you don't feel right about what they are telling you. There are a lot of things it could be besides "growing pains". And all of them probably treatable.

He's in prime time for growing pains.
Our son got horrible pains when he was 4, 6 and 8.
Each of those years he shot up 4 inches.
The pains could come any time of the day or night.
Sometimes in the legs and sometimes in the arms.
We tried heating pad, warm bath, massage, Tylenol/Advil, Aspercream, eating more bananas (for the potassium).
Sometimes it would seem to help and other times nothing worked.
Sure make sure it's nothing serious but if nothing is found and the pains come and go - it's probably growing pains and they'll go away again as soon as his growth spurt finishes up.

Welcome to mamapedia, S.!

Can your son bear pressure and stand on his leg? If so - I would state growing pains.

If he cannot put any weight on it? I would take him to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon (don't let the surgeon part scare you) and have him examined. They might want to do an MRI or a CT Scan with contrast, as there are some things that won't show up on an x-ray.

If you haven't received the results of the X-ray from Monday? I wouldn't stress. That means they didn't find anything life threatening.

Does he bruise easily?
Does he have any other symptoms?
Fever?

With no obvious injury, bruising or swelling? I would say growing pains. However, with the pain migrating to the hip? I would go to an orthopedist.

Friend's son has a fractured hip -- there was no bruising, no swelling, just pain.He seems to have done it just moving wrong and twisting his hip as he fell, but he could walk (painfully) afterward. It did not turn up on the first x-ray; the mom said the doctor told her that sometimes the injury does not show the first time out; hey took another x-ray after 48 hours and the small fracture showed then.

And tissue or muscle issues won't necessarily be revealed by an x-ray.

I think any kid who falls down four times in a day has more than growing pains going on, and spreading pain indicates that still more is going on.

Your SWH suddenly mentions serious headaches to the point of vomiting -- has he been seen by a doctor about those?? That sounds like migraines but in a kid this young that takes some time to diagnose.

Does the same doctor know about his full history AND your own? Does the doctor know about how serious his (untreated??) headaches are, and that you yourself may have an autoimmune disorder? I think someone somewhere needs to take full medical histories for him and you and your husband and start adding things up to see if there is a larger picture than just growing pains.

The simplest answer is usually the best one -- growing pains, maybe a small fracture-- but you also need to be sure the doctor does not stop with "the one x-ray was clear," if your son continues to be in pain. And if you do turn out to have an autoimmune disorder after your own testing, your son surely needs to be tested for that as well--?

Could be growing pains. Sometimes they do last for a few days. He's also fallen, and that can create swelling inside even if you don't see it on the outside. The knee, like the ankle, is particularly susceptible to strains and sprains through twisting when you fall. There are some pretty tender tissues in there. Once there's an injury, people tend to favor the leg and walk or do other things slightly differently, and that can cause something like a muscle pull in the thigh. The usual treatment for injuries is RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Put the leg up - couch or bed, with a slight support under the knee - a rolled towel works great to keep the knee slightly bent. Don't have him just put his leg on an ottoman with the knee straight - that's worse. Ice it. If you don't have an ice bag (not a hard ice pack), use a package of frozen vegetables because it will curve to the shape of the leg or knee. Compression - Ace bandage. After periods of rest, have him gently move around to keep things moving in there. It may be stiffer at first, from inactivity as well as swelling. Go easy on steps and running around outside. And don't use heat for a few days - that just increases swelling. You can try ibuprofen for inflammation reduction.