Child has difficulty running and doing leg exercises

[cindyf]

My 10-year old daughter runs "funny" and has difficulty performing leg exercises that involve going to the ground and coming back up.  She cannot do lunges without looking like a newborn calf struggling to stand and gain her balance.  Since the age of 5, she has seen an orthopedic surgeon, a physical therapist and a neurologist without sucess in identifying her leg problems.  Her PE coaches throughout the years have insisted something is wrong with her legs, but none of the doctors can identify the problem.  The doctors shrug it off as her "not being an athlete."  I believe her problem goes beyond not being an athlete.  She cannot even go down stairs without holding the rail for stability.  More than once, strangers have asked me if she ever had a leg injury.  People have even said she appears to have rheumatoid arthritis, but the tests came back negative.  On several occasions while she is running, her leg appears to give way and she falls.  When performing lunges, her leg gives way as well.  What do you think about some sort of weight training?

[jigneshjsoni]

My son is 5 yrs old and he can not run fast. When he runs, his legs are wider than normal, which makes his running look funny. When he plays with other kids, he is slow and other kids catch him easily. This causes his confidence level go down. He is enthusiastic about playing and physical activities, but since he is slow, he is shy of playing with kids. So he keeps coming to me for playing.
Is there something I can do to make him any faster ?

[stephbonura]

My 8 year old son seems to have the same problem.  We have been seeing a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for a while.  He even diagnosed him with shin splints and severs disease which is normally seen in athletes or very active children.  My son does play football but he does not exert himself in the least.  No one seems to find a problem but I know something is going on.  Did you ever get an answer?

[Oli767]

My son (11 years old) has the exact same problem.  Did you ever find out what causes this condition?

[bobthetrainer]

Before determining a therapy, I would recommend taking your child to be evaluated again to determine the root cause of the problem (preferably at a major teaching hospital).  It sounds like she has been evaluated by the correct specialties, but without success, so a teaching hospital is a good alternative for cases that are quite complex or unusual.

[SupaFighta]

You should try having her take swimming classes since swimming can help strengthen her legs as well the rest of her body. Weight lifting at 10 years old probably wouldn't be recommended since that seems too young as she is still growing.