Table 1

Common and significant causes of limp by age2

	0–3 years	4–10 years	11–16 years
In all patients consider	Osteomyelitis/septic arthritis
	Non-accidental injury
	Testicular torsion/inguinal hernia/appendicitis/urine infection
	Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
	Metabolic conditions (eg, rickets)
	Haematological disease (eg, sickle cell anaemia)
Age-dependent differential diagnoses to consider	Toddler's fracture Developmental dysplasia of the hip Neuroblastoma	Transient synovitis Perthes’ disease Acute lymphocytic leukaemia	Slipped upper femoral epiphysis Primary bone tumours Osgood–Schlatter disease, Sinding–Larsen syndrome