2. LIMP
• Limp is defined as, an uneven, jerky gait
caused by pain, weakness or deformity.
• Limp can be caused by both benign and
life threatening conditions
• Management varies from simple
reassurance to major surgery depending
upon the cause.
3. PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
• Three main factors cause a child to limp.
• Pain, weakness, structural or mechanical
abnormalities of the spine, pelvis and
lower extremities.
4. NORMAL GAIT
• A normal gait is composed of symmetrical,
alternating, rhythmical motions involving two
phases: stance and swing.
• The stance phase normally encompasses 60%
of the gait cycle during which the foot is in
contact with the ground.
• And the swing phase 40%, during which the foot
is in the air.
• Mature Gait – by 3 years, by 7 years the gait will
be approximately that of the adult.
14. History
• Sex – Girls – DDH
–Boys – Perthes , SCFE
• Onset
• Painless or Painful
• Acute or Chronic
• History of trauma
15. History
• Fever, night sweats, Anorexia, weight loss (Inf. , Malignancy).
• Recent history of viral illness or streptococcal infection (post
infectious arthritis)
• Recent history of dysentry ( Reiters syndome)
• Recent history of new or increased sports activity
• Recent history of intramuscular injection (can cause muscle
inflammation or sterile abscess)
• History of endocrine dysfunction (may predispose to slipped capital
femoral epiphysis)
• Family history of connective tissue disorder, inflammatory bowel
disease, hemoglobinopathy, bleeding disorder, or neuromuscular
disorder
• Prenatal and birth history
16. Physical Examination
• Standing:
• - back should be examined for scoliosis ,local
tenderness, range of motion.
• -if there is pelvic tilt is present , it can be measured by
placing blocks under the shorter leg until the pelvis in
level (horizontal)
• -trendelenburg test
• Measurement of thigh and calf circumference should
reveal atrophy (more than 1 to 2 cm of difference
between sides) in a patient with any hip or knee
condition that has limited function for more than one to
two months.
17. Physical Examination
• Supine:
• - each joint should be examined separately
• -look for swelling, feel for tenderness, assess the ROM
• -for hip flexion contracture --------Thomas test
• -neurological examination should be performed
• -check for leg length discrepancy , the short leg must be
differentiated from apparent shortening that is caused by
scoliosis or pelvic obliquity or joint contracture.
• Prone:
• -hip rotation
• *-femoral anteversion
20. Galeazzi’s test
• useful in diagnosing
developmental hip
dysplasia or leg length
discrepancy.
• performed by putting the
child in a supine position
and then flexing the hips
and knees by bringing the
ankles to the buttocks .
• positive when the knees
are of different heights.
• Abnormal shortening of
the leg can be caused by
DDH, Perth's disease.
38. Ultrasonography
• Effusion
• -Widening of space between capsule and bone
of > 2mm indicates effusion.
• -Echo-free transient synovitis
• -Positively echogenic septic arthritis
• useful in the detection of early slips by
demonstrating joint effusion and a “step”
between the femoral neck and the epiphysis
created by slipping-SCFE
• Acute osteomyelitis- periosteal thickening ,
subpriosteal thickening
39. CT scan
• deep soft tissue infections of the Para spinal and
retroperitoneal regions
• Three dimensional images of shape of femoral
head and acetabulum in perthes disease
• SCFE- confirm closure of the proximal femoral
physis.
• Provide three dimensional reconstructed CT
images used to assess the severity of residual
deformity of the upper femur,[ especially when
reconstructive osteotomy is being considered.
40. MRI
• Evaluation of the spine (for discitis or spinal
tumors), soft tissue tumors and abscesses in the
Para spinal and retroperitoneal regions,
osteomyelitis of the pelvis and long bones.
• Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease
• Highly specific for detection of AVN
• MRI with gadolinium-contrast arthrography- the
evaluation of the adolescent patient with hip
dysplasia and pain for assessing of the condition
of the labrum and the articular cartilage of the
hip joint
41. Radionuclide scans :
• sensitive means of detecting
alterations in the metabolic rate of
bone and thus a sensitive means
of localizing pathology
• lacks specificity because such
alterations in bone metabolism
can occur in Legg- Calvé-Perthes
disease, osteomyelitis,osteoid
osteoma, and malignant bone
tumors.
• Decrease uptake in AVN
• increased uptake in the capital
femoral physis of an involved hip,
decreased uptake in the presence
of AVN, and increased uptake in
the joint space in the presence of
chondrolysis