Hi Greg,
My son was diagnosed with Perthes in his left hip five years ago at the age of almost ten. The onset of symptoms (unable to walk, extreme pain etc) began about a month after the end of our local Junior Rugby League season and he has not played a lot of sport since and definitely no contact sport at all.
While his doctor/specialists diagnosed Perthes immediately and my son was told he could not play contact sports, tennis, soccer, run, ride a motorbike or horse etc, the main reason why he didn't take part in any of these actvities for a number of years was simply because he just couldn't.
Getting up and walking to the toilet and even standing was beyond him at times, he spent many days over a period of three years doing his schoolwork from a bed we placed in our schoolroom (we live on an isolated cattle station in Queensland, Australia and so he has always done his schooling here at home through a School of Distance education/School of the Air anyway), found driving in our car extremely difficult and even gentle exercise in a dam or pool would see him bed-ridden for weeks at a time. Thankfully we were able to fill his life with many other activities over the years such as chess, musical instruments etc to replace the very active and outdoor life he'd previously led.
I should mention that while he was prohibited from playing tennis, due to the impact on the court and his restricted movement, I did find a great coach who was happy to travel each month to our local area to provide one-on-one sessions that allowed my son to practice serving, forehand and backhand shots etc without having to move his feet at all. It was wonderful to see this man work with my son in this way and it gave back something to my son that I will never be able to thank him enough for. As a parent, I felt that even though he was unable to actually PLAY tennis just then, there was no good reason why he couldn't at least learn the basic skills, within his limits, and so could at least know HOW to play when he was physically more capable in later years - my son was happy enough with that and easily accepted that he could only do what he could do.
In 2006, he played a few games of tennis for his school and even won a few singles and doubles matches - he was thrilled! He was in too much pain to play during 2007 but, in having a knowledge of the rules and skills involved, he knows that he can always participate if and when he can. The same was for cricket...on the very few occassions he was allowed to play for the school team (this only happened when they couldn't field a full side and would have had to forfeit without my son's presence), he could never bend down to retrieve a ball very quickly in the field and he needed a runner when at bat (he batted at number eleven), but by being able to attend and participate in practice sessions each week, he was able to learn the skills and finer points of the game so could partially participate when able and look to the future knowing that he would be 'in the know' if he was ever physically capable of playing to the fullest extent.
It was hard for him to sit on the sidelines for many activities, especially as his younger brother continued to play rugby league, but he was able to help out with other aspects of the game (waterboy, canteen, helping the coach etc). The same was for athletics and swimming...being a track judge, timekeeper or giving out the ribbons was always an exciting and acceptable alternative.
Now only a few days from fifteen, it has been hard slog for him but, while he is still not completely pain-free, he has been able to participate in Army Cadet activities in the last two years(he attends boarding school during the school term now that he is in Secondary) and it has been great for him and his confidence particularly as the Cadet staff allow him to perform to his own pain threshold/ability. They allow him to be a part of the organisation as they appreciate that while he is of
