Adductor Myositis as a Cause of Childhood Hip Pain

Two cases of bacterial adductor myositis that presented as painful hips in boys aged 4 and 9 years are reported. Clinically, there was severe pain and a high pyrexia, a raised C-reactive protein and positive blood cultures but a negative hip ultrasound. Urgent magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated changes throughout the adductor muscles in keeping with bacterial myositis. Both boys settled with intravenous antibiotic therapy. We propose that magnetic resonance imaging is a valuable tool in the assessment of infection around the hip and should be indicated when other investigations have excluded a septic arthritis but the child remains unwell.