Son Favorin His Left Leg

First let me say this is not medical advice and not a substitute for seeing a doctor. That said, I'm going to comment because you've already been to the ER and have an appointment with your doctor.

In my experience, nerves can be pinched and irritated or damaged without immediate pain. The pain can take a day to three days to develop. So your son may have hurt himself much earlier, and the pain just took a while to show up. Also, all the bones may be OK in the back, yet a disk can be bulging and pressing on a nerve, which will cause it to slowly deteriorate. This will show up on an X-Ray, but most docs wouldn't be looking for a disk bulge in a young child.

If you don't get satisfying results from your doctor, visit a reputable chiropractor (there are some very good ones and some not-so-good ones, so get referrals from people you trust, or from MamaSource).

Also be certain your son is drinking enough good clean water daily. Dehydration can cause the disks to get thinner and then they can slip out of place and into nerves more easily. Notice his urine and if it's darker than a very light yellow he may be dehydrated. At 14 months he's probably still in diapers, in which case you're probably already aware of his urine color.

Another thing to check is your son's feet and ankles. He may have turned his ankle or may have a splinter in his foot. If the ankle doesn't seem tender and you see nothing in his foot, try massaging his feet and notice if there is a difference between the left and right foot. If you notice a difference, or if your son winces when you massage his feet, get a referral from your doc for a podiatrist.

I hope your son's health is good, the problem is minor, and you're all happy again very soon.

When my daughter was about that age, she complained her right knee hurt on and off for months. We had x-rays, blood tests, etc. Came up with nothing. She is fine now (4 yo). I agree with the other posts to have everything ruled out for your own peace of mind, but most likely he is fine. Kids are resilient!

If they don't request you do it, get blood tests just to rule everything out. This is definitely not common, but my friend took her son in for the same thing. After a blood test that she almost didn't do because she thought it was unnecessary, she found out that he had leukemia. Just cover your bases!

My daughter was a bit older then your son when she really started walking. Her brother is 15 mo. younger then her & when he started walking he ran circles around her... he was able to run shortly after he started walking & she still was unable to run. We did have her to the Shriners Hospital & tested for possible issues & were suppose to go for a follow up... when she woke-up telling me her leg hurt & I didn't see anything wrong w/ her leg so I gave her a little Tylenol & we continued with our day. She did favor the leg, but I couldn't see anything wrong with it - that is till about lunch time... her knee had blown up like a balloon.

I called her doctor - who had me bring her right over (he even shipped his lunch to see her), he then sent us to Childern's Hospital for X-rays w/ fluid - the normal x-ray showed no damage, but the fluid part of the test showed she had tons of fluid around her knee. She was sent to 3 different doctors in 4 days - before we ended up back at Children's Hospital meeting with their rheumatology department. They worked with her to get the swelling down in her knee, but had to drain it about 5 mo. later because the med's just couldn't get it down correctly. She was then diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) - before she was 3 yr old.

She is now 6 yr old & taking an anti-inflamitory every night before bed, but the swelling has been gone for over a year now. She still has a few other issues because of the meds & the arthritis... and does say she has pain now & then which we handle with Tylenol because she can't take motrin (it can cause issues with the anti-inflamitory & OD her).

We did end up rescheduling the follow-up at the Shriner's Hospital in PA & the looked over all her test & records from Children's. They did confirm that she has JRA. They also looked into the doctor at Children's and let me know she is a very good doctor. So, it did help me feel a bit more comfertable knowing that my daughter was in good hands w/ her treatment.

I hope your son doesn't have any issues - that he just sprained something & will be better in a few days. But I wanted to let you know my daughter's reason for favoring her leg... I didn't know that kids could have arthritis till I was told she had it.

My daughter has one leg slightly longer than the other. My son has where something with his hips and flat feet make him walk differently on one leg than the other.

My son had the same problem and eventually wouldn't walk after x-rays and blood test his pediatrician diagnosed him with toxic synovitis, inflammation of the hip joint that can be cause by the onset of a upper respiratory infection. Nothing really I could do except for to give him ibprophen. It eventually went away.

Good luck I hope all is well.