The patient was an 11-year-old female referred to a physical therapist because of a primary complaint of progressively worsening left anterior knee pain of 9 months' duration. Examination of the patient's left knee was unremarkable and did not reproduce the patient's primary complaint. However, range-of-motion assessment of the patient's left hip elicited pain in the left anterior/medial hip region and revealed decreased hip internal rotation and abduction. Due to concern about the possibility of a slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), the patient was immediately referred to her physician, and subsequent radiographs revealed a left SCFE.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2012;42(5):482. doi:10.2519/jospt.2012.0408

KEY WORDS: hip pain, radiography