The cause of lameness in children and adults, symptoms, treatment
Gait disorder is not a critical condition for a person, but it causes a feeling of discomfort. Therefore, the question "Why did lameness appear when walking?", "How to get rid of it?" and such are often placed at a doctor's appointment.
Lameness is any gait disorder that occurs due to changes in one of the limbs (rarely in both).
This pathological condition can be a consequence of:
- congenital joint defect;
- acquired disease.
Symptoms of this pathology (pain in the legs with lameness, change in gait) are not specific - they can appear due to any diseases that caused lameness. And this means that lameness can be treated by different specialists.
Most often lameness appears:
- after fractures;
- as a result of the impression of the nervous system, which regulates the activity of the muscles of the lower limbs;
- due to leg vascular diseases.
It is impossible to get rid of lameness by applying local therapy (ointments, rubbing, etc.) - you should look for a systemic cause of the condition. Yes, the main signs of intermittent claudication and claudication after a fracture may be similar, but the treatment will be significantly different. Therefore, only a qualified doctor can find out the cause and prescribe adequate therapy.
Lameness after fracture
The main reasons why a patient limps after a fracture:
- reposition (reposition of the bone fragments of the bone resulting from the fracture) was performed incorrectly, and the affected leg became shorter;
- the patient began to load the lower limb before the deadline announced by the doctor, due to which bone fragments could be displaced;
- mobilization (immobilization of the lower limb - for example, with the help of an applied plaster) led to atrophy of soft tissues;
- the patient is afraid to load the limb.
Treatment of lameness after a fracture depends on its cause and location. It is often necessary to carry out repeated repositioning (the doctor must "fold" the bone fragments anew). But most often, non-invasive (without tissue invasion) treatment methods will allow to get rid of this condition:
- massage of the affected limb;
- physiotherapy;
- a conversation with a doctor (not necessarily a psychotherapist), who will explain the processes of consolidation (growth) of bone fragments and make sure that it is not dangerous to put weight on the leg after a fracture.
The main signs of intermittent lameness
With intermittent lameness, gait "failure" occurs after a certain load on the lower limb - for example, if a person walks a certain distance.
Intermittent lameness is mainly the result of the following causes:
- disorders from the vessels that supply blood to the lower limb (atherosclerosis, obliterating endarteritis, condition after thrombosis, etc.);
- disorders from the neuromuscular apparatus. Most often, the condition is caused by a narrowing of the spinal canal. Such lameness is also called neurogenic.
The difference in clinical signs is that lameness due to vascular disorders most often manifests as pain in the legs, while the symptoms of neurogenic lameness are mainly weakness in the lower limbs and paresthesia - impaired sensitivity of soft tissues.
Treatment of intermittent claudication should begin with quitting smoking and alcohol. Drug therapy depends on the cause of intermittent lameness - prescribe:
- means that improve blood flow in soft tissues;
- drugs that improve conduction along nerve endings;
- physiotherapy (in particular, hydrogen sulfide and radon baths).
How to treat intermittent lameness syndrome, a highly qualified specialist of our clinic will tell you in more detail. You can make an appointment by calling the numbers listed on the website https://dobrobut.com/.
Lameness in children
Most often, children begin to limp due to an injury. It is often difficult to find out the fact - a small child may not remember that he fell or hit himself during the game. Older children hide the fact of trauma due to fear of being punished.
But there may be other causes of lameness in a child. Sometimes they are the most banal:
- tight shoes;
- fatigue;
- a pebble in the shoe.
If the lameness does not go away after eliminating such inconveniences, you should think about its more serious cause. In addition to traumatization, frequent causes of lameness in children are:
- excessive loads in physical education lessons;
- Perthes disease (impaired blood supply to the head of the hip joint);
- viral infections (causing reactive inflammation of the joints);
- congenital dislocation of the hip joint.
Other diseases of bones and joints (except dislocation of the hip joint) are extremely rare in children.
To find out why a child has lameness when walking, you should consult a pediatrician, as well as children's narrow specialists - an orthopedic traumatologist and an infectious disease specialist. Most often, such a pathology in young patients can be eliminated with the help of conservative methods, but in some cases, more radical methods of treatment will be needed.
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