Nontraumatic hip pain in active children: a critical differential.

A case report of an 8-year-old baseball player who was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes (LCP) disease gives an opportunity to consider the many nontraumatic causes of hip pain. Possibilities include slipped capital femoral epiphysis, septic arthritis, transient synovitis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and bone tumor. Radiographs and bone scans are used to document and stage LCP, and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Though the aggressiveness of treatment depends on the disease stage, the treatment of choice is generally nonsurgical containment of the femoral epiphysis with a cast or orthosis.