Symptoms:

Symptoms may include:

• Hip pain (on one side only)
• Limp
• Thigh pain, in front and toward the middle of the thigh
• Knee pain
• Low-grade fever, less than 101° Fahrenheit

Aside from the hip discomfort, the child does not usually appear ill.

Signs and tests:

Toxic synovitis is diagnosed when other, more serious conditions have been ruled out, such as:

• Septic hip
• Slipped capital femoral epiphysis
• Legg-Calve-Perthes disease

Tests used to diagnose toxic synovitis include:

• Ultrasound of the hip
• X-ray of the hip
• ESR
• C-reactive protein (CRP)
• Complete blood count (CBC)

Other tests that may be done to rule out other causes of hip pain:

• Aspiration of fluid from the hip joint
• Bone scan
• MRI