Childhood leg rubbing syndrome (emotional cross-legged syndrome), known abroad as a behavior disorder in which children cause excitement by rubbing their legs, is a type of psychological behavior abnormality. It is not uncommon in children, and is more common in girls and toddlers.
It is an abnormal psychological behavior, a behavioral disorder in which children cause excitement by rubbing their legs. The onset of the disorder is usually from 1-5 years old, with 1-3 years old being the most common, and more girls than boys. These children have normal intelligence and are alert during seizures, mostly before bedtime and after waking, but not when playing outside, and the behavior can stop when distracted. Girls like to sit on hard objects, hand pressed legs or lower abdomen, both lower limbs straight crossed and intensified or superimposed, hands clenched fist or grasp something to make force; boys more performance lying on the bed back and forth rubbing, or similar performance with girls. Some infants also like to sit on the legs of adults, chair corner rubbing vulva. The attack will be accompanied by red face and sweating. In girls, the vulva is engorged with blood, with increased secretions or increased labial pigmentation; in boys, the penis is erect, the urethra is slightly engorged with blood, and there is mild edema.
In Chinese medicine, this disease belongs to the category of “phase fire”, which is caused by kidney deficiency, heart not taking in the kidneys, heart-kidney non-intercourse or lower jiao damp heat. Western medicine believes that its etiology is still unclear, but some experts believe that it is due to hyperdopamine function. Some believe that this action is an indication of self-soothing in children.
It is thought that children’s leg rubbing syndrome is due to local stimulation of the vulva to form recurrent habits, but because the age of the attack can be as young as 2 months old and has not yet reached the habit-forming stage, or the symptoms do not improve according to vulvodynia or pinworm treatment, and the dopamine blocker has some effect, it is presumed that it may be due to the metabolic disorder of the cholinergic system, causing hyperdopamine function. Some studies have also suggested that children with seizures have disorders of sex hormone levels.
Although the etiology of the disease is unknown and the treatment is not uniform, psycho-behavioral therapy should be used to relieve the child’s psychological stress, provide more affection, make him happy, and encourage him to participate in various play activities. During seizures, the child’s attention can be distracted by interesting stimuli, and measures such as letting the child fall asleep quickly when tired and getting up immediately after waking can reduce seizures. In addition to daily washing, infants should also use diapers or diapers during daytime play, and wear closed-file pants as early as possible to protect the perineal skin and avoid infection. EEG should be done only if the seizure manifestations are to be differentiated from epilepsy.
Leg rubbing syndrome in children mostly resolves on its own with age, so parents should not worry or blame their children.
Common causes
1, local stimulation: such as burning insects, wet diapers or pants are too tight and other stimuli cause local itching of vulva, followed by rubbing, on the basis of which it develops.
2, psychological factors: some children are not satisfied emotionally due to family tension, lack of maternal love, discrimination, etc., and no toys to play with, through their own stimulation to seek catharsis, resulting in leg clamping action.
3, other reasons: in older children, the influence of yellow videos, yellow books and magazines, is also the cause of “leg clenching” bad behavior
But because the age of seizure can be as young as 2 months old, has not yet reached the stage of habit formation, or according to vulvodynia or torso pinworm treatment symptoms do not improve, and the use of dopamine blockers have some effect, so it is presumed that the choline system may be metabolic disorders, causing dopamine hyperfunction.
Etiological explanation
Freud believed that as young children grow older, the areas of sexual sensitivity or prominence in the erogenous zones shift, and that infants and young children at different ages have different major erogenous zones. There are five distinct stages of human psychosexual development, or personality development.
The oral stage (0-1 year), where pleasure comes mainly from the mouth. The anal stage (1-3 years), where pleasure comes from the excretion or retention of feces. Sexual bud stage (3-6 years), children not only become interested in their sexual organs and masturbate, but their behavior begins to be gender-specific. The latency period (6-12 years) is concerned with learning, exploring the world, and sexual interests are replaced by other interests. The reproductive phase (after age 12) focuses on reproductive function and re-experiencing the pleasure of the sexual organs.
According to Freud, the sex bud phase is a stage of human growth through which children explore their sexual organs. Freud saw this as a manifestation of an internal drive through which the child obtains the satisfaction of forcefulness.
In addition, the behaviorist school believes that episodic factors such as eczema of the perineum, pinworms, wet diapers or too tight pants stimulation cause pleasure in the sexual organs of children, and that they actively masturbate and seek pleasure even after they have recovered from the disease. They, believe that this undesirable behavior is the result of acquired learning.
Nowadays, it is also believed that if children are in a monotonous and stereotyped environment for a long time, their activities are restricted, or they are forced to play in bed, this restriction will also trigger the behavior of active masturbation and seeking sexual pleasure.
Treatment
Different treatments should be used depending on the explanation for the condition and the cause of the trigger.
If the rubbing behavior is triggered by stimuli such as eczema of the perineum, pinworms, wet diapers or too tight pants, this is triggered by a somatic disease and will disappear when the somatic disease disappears. In this case, medication is required, and medications such as dopamine blockers like haloperidol and Antanas are mostly used in medical treatment. At the same time, attention should be paid to the cleanliness of the perineum in children. In addition to daily washing, infants and children should also use diapers or diapers during daytime play, and wear closed-file pants as early as possible to protect the perineal skin and avoid infection.
If eczema of the perineum, pinworms, wet diapers or too tight pants are ruled out, as well as the possibility of epilepsy, then these rubbing behaviors can be considered as an undesirable psychological behavior disorder. Then, a psychological approach should be used to intervene.
1. Awareness: Since many physicians to date do not know enough about the disorder, the key to preventing and treating the syndrome lies in early detection and early diagnosis. Once parents find that their children have signs of the syndrome, they should be calm, not nervous, and should not scold, punish, or forcefully stop their children from having episodes. Otherwise, it will strengthen the behavior and make it fixed, leading to this problem to adolescence, which may form friction fetish and affect normal sexual life.
2, timely transfer: when the child will be seized or is seized, parents should act as if nothing happened to the child to pick up and walk, or give the child toys to play, or and the child “tease”, or lead the child out to play, to divert the child’s attention.
3, parents should give more emotional warmth to the child, more contact with the child, to avoid leaving the child in a lonely, boring state, to develop a wide range of interests, more guidance for outdoor activities, to develop an interest in the outside world to divert attention.
4. Before going to bed, tell children a story or play a small game until they are sleepy and fall asleep. Get up immediately after waking up, and avoid staying in bed for too long.
5, regular work and rest: to develop a good habit of sleeping on time, do not go to bed too early at night, do not get up late in the morning, in order to reduce the chance of “pinch leg” attack.
6, remove the cause: parents should pay attention to the child’s perineal hygiene, remove all kinds of bad stimulation; if the child has pinworms, eczema, etc., should promptly ask the doctor for treatment. The mother should give more emotional warmth to the child, more contact with the child, to avoid leaving the child in a lonely, bored state, to cultivate a wide range of interests, more guidance for outdoor activities, to develop an interest in the outside world to divert attention.
When children are found to have frictional movements, parents should first not be anxious, but should take their children to the doctor as soon as possible for timely treatment of related diseases, and if they are caused by psychological factors, psychotherapy should be carried out. Make a clear diagnosis as soon as possible and prescribe the right medicine.