Hi, everyone!  I am posting this to try to bring awareness to an uncommon, but severe, childhood disorder called Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease.  Unlike what the name may suggest, this condition is not a disease in the fact that one can contract it from another.  Rather it is a bone disorder that affects children.

This disorder (I refuse to call it "disease") is generally discovered in children under the age of 9.  It affects both girls and boys.  It is often overlooked as simple "growing pains" and often goes untreated until severe, lifelong damage has occurred . 

Leggs-Calves-Perthes occurs when the blood supply to the femural head of the hip joint is cut off.  Though it is ofte assumed that poor nutrition and/or poor clotting is the cause, I tend not to agre.  Either way, the result is the decay of the ball joint in the hip.  The child experiences extreme pain in the affected hip (sometimes both hips are affected) and limited mobility.  If not treated in a timely fashion, or if the damage is so severe, it can result in a very difficult and painful adulthood.

The general treatment is either traction, or the use of hip braces (the preferred treatment).  Unless you get a surgeon who is not experienced with this disorder, then your child becomes his/her experiment.  And it can go horribly wrong.

You are probably wondering, how does this crack-pot know about this little known disorder.  I was diagnosed with it at the age of 8.  At first, my pain was written off as growing pains or my desire for attention.  It took the school's gym teacher to bring the reality of the situation to light. I was taken to a chiropractor who told my mother that he would not even attempt to adjust my hips and recommended that I be taken to a specialist.

I cried my way through painful x-rays where my hip was manipulated into different positions.  At times it felt as if my leg was being ripped off my body.  Instead of the tradition forms of treatment, this "specialist" decided that I should use crutches for 18 months.  Not a wise decision as it turns out.  The reason for the braces and/or traction, is to keep the femural head deep in the cup socket so that it can reform correctly.  With the crutches, my leg swung free, not protecetd by the socket of my hip. 

The result:  the femural head of my hip joint is roughly the size of a softball, the cup socket has been flattened out and there is no cushoining within the joint.  I walk bone-on-bone.  Since my left hip is slightly shorter than my right, my spine has been affected over the years.  The lower five vertebrae tip forward and down toward the left.  I have 5% mobility.

I live everyday in constant pain.  I cannot sit in one position for any length of time, I cannot walk more than a few feet and if I lay in one position for too long, my bones lock up.  There is a procedure that would correct all of this, total hip replacement, however, you must be atleast 55 yrs old to receive it.  I have twelve more years to go.  I have lived with this, the pain worsening with each passing year, since before I was diagnosed.  I have NEVER had a day without pain.  I fear I never will.  The last surgeon thatr I went to predicted that I will be in a wheelchair by the time I'm 50 and I am quickly approaching that stage in this disorder as I write this.

So, please, if your child complains of hip pain, don't write it off as "growing pains", have it checked out.  Make sure that the examination includes x-rays, as this is the ONLY way to see the extentof the damage.  But have it done immediately.  Don't wait to see if it gets better.  Don't take the chance.