How to get involved with Perthes Awareness Month this October
There are so many ways you can get involved to raise awareness and support Steps, take a look at our list – there’s something for everyone!
Silly Socks for Perthes Awareness Month October 1st-31st 2023
Shake, shake, shake your Silly Socks! Shake them at assembly or even in the office, spooky shakes for Halloween! Or maybe – just wear them!
This month for Perthes Awareness STEPS is doing something completely different by launching an exciting campaign for the – feet! Wait, what? The feet, but Perthes is about hips! Yes, but we’d like
you to shout LOUD and PROUD and support STEPS and their SILLY SOCKS for Perthes! Do you have a pair of silly socks itching to escape your sock draw? We don’t want you to hurt your hips shaking them so why not show-off your Silly Socks!
There are so many ways you can get involved with Perthes Awareness but why not do it with something completely silly? Perthes may affect the hips but this way everyone can join in, and painful hips won’t be impacted for as long as you’re wearing your Silly Socks!
Will you help launch our Silly Socks for Perthes?
The importance of these campaigns is to help us raise vital funds and awareness, so we are able to continue our work as a leading charity for lower limb conditions. We cannot be silly without you. Please join for Silly Socks for Perthes October 2023! You can do so by sponsorship or setting up a fundraising page such as JustGiving.
In school? Why not ask if you’re allowed a Silly Sock assembly day? Work in an office? Why not ‘fine’ people for wearing the most boring socks? Belong to a sport club? Wouldn’t you look silly swimming with your socks on instead of fins?
For more information, please contact fundraising@steps-charity.org.uk or, if you have other ideas for helping Perthes Awareness Month we’d absolutely love to hear them, just drop us an email at, fundraising@steps-charity.org.uk anytime.
Steps highly rely on fundraising and donations so if you feel, October is not going to be a Silly Sock month for you, how about helping us by donating, just a small amount would mean the world of difference to all our campaigns.
Don’t forget to take lots of photos
Change your social media profile photo
Help raise awareness and show your support to thousands of families and children affected by lower limb conditions by changing your social media profile photos during Perthes Awareness Month.
Share your stories
We would love to share your stories, so please send them to us at info@steps-charity.org.uk. They are a source of comfort and inspiration. You might also contact a local magazine or newspaper or send it to us to submit to our media contacts.
Why is Perthes Awareness Month so important?
Perthes disease or Legg-Calve-Perthes disease as it is sometimes known, is a rare childhood condition that affects the hip. The blood supply to the hip bone is disrupted, causing bone cells to die, which erodes the hip and causes pain in the process.
Perthes is approximately 4 times as common in boys as girls and generally occurs between 4 and 8 years of age. Active children tend to be more affected. The first symptom is usually a painless limp, but symptoms can be very subtle, with a mild ache in the thigh or knee not being uncommon.
Unfortunately medical agreement on the best way to treat Perthes has not yet been reached. It is treated in various ways but pain management remains a key issues faced by many children. At times, parents are told to “wait and see” to enable the doctors to assess how to best treat their child’s condition.
As the condition is not well known, it could occur that the child is not correctly diagnosed with Perthes disease leaving the hip to erode resulting in an odd shape. The effects of Perthes into adulthood are still very much unknown. Doctors have very limited information on how many adults require a hip replacement (if any) and if the disease has had long term consequences on their daily activities.
We want to change this and support more awareness and research into Perthes disease and find the best way to diagnose and treat children. Help us to fund more awareness and research and support families and adults impacted by the condition.