Back and Hip pains.

I have a son who has just reached his fourth birthday. He has never has anything wrong. no medical allergies, one cold in his whole life. current on immunizations. Never complains about anything, he's a tough kid who rarely cried even upon falling and hurting himself.

However something that has been a concern for me, these past few months i notice he been complaining of pains. He has mentioned his legs hurt, and I have been told that is normal for most kids his age, it was growing pains and nothing to worry about. He never stopped mentioning his legs hurt, now recently it has progressed to his back and hips hurting. Perhaps I am paranoid but his father has severe scoliosis that was never treated for being brushed off. I don't want the same thing to happen. My son has an appt. in a couple weeks. Is this too growing pains? Or something else? Is my concern valid? or just over-protective?

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, without a detailed clinical evaluation it would be difficult to determine the cause of his symptoms. Leg and joint pain could be related to growing pains or could be caused due to other issues such as infections, inflammations, fractures, dislocations, injuries to muscles/ ligaments/ tendons, ischaemic necrosis, perthes disease etc. It is prudent to get to get this evaluated by an orthopedician for an accurate diagnosis, to be on the safer side.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!