Growing pain is often described as an ache or throb in the legs – mostly in the front of the thighs, the calves, or behind the knees. Growing pain is common in pre-school and school-going children. Growing pain tends to affect both legs, and occurs at night, and may even wake a child up.
Although this pain is called growing pain, there’s no evidence that growth hurts. Growing pain may be linked to a low pain threshold. It usually affects pre-school and school-age children.
It is slightly more common in girls than in boys. Researchers thought running, climbing, or jumping during the day might increase the risk of leg pain at night. Moving the legs does not make the pain any better or worse.There is no pain in the joints.
How it presents
Growing pain usually causes aching or throbbing feeling in the legs. This often occurs in the front of the thighs, the calves, or behind the knees. Usually both legs hurt. This pain is known as “growing pain,” and it affects about one in 10 children. The pain doesn’t occur every day. It comes and goes. Growing pain often strikes in the late afternoon or early evening, and disappears by the morning. Pain worsens through the night, especially at bedtime. Sometimes the pain awakens a child in the middle of the night.
Growing pain does not cause children to limp, nor makes it hard for them to run or play normally. If your child is limping, complaining of pain during the day, feels ill, or if his leg is sore, then you should consult your pediatrician, as your child may be injured or have an infection.
Cause is unknown
Though the exact cause of growth pain is unknown, it may be linked to several things, including tiredness in the muscles, poor posture, or stress, but each of these suspected causes is not present in every child who suffers from growing pain. Growing pains are not caused by bone growth, and will normally end by the teen years. There’s no evidence that a child’s growth is painful. And growing pains don’t usually happen where growth is occurring or during times of rapid growth.
No specific treatment
There’s no specific treatment for growing pain. You can make your child more comfortable by putting a warm heating pad on the sore muscles, and massage them. Growing pain does not cause other problems, and it does not affect growth. Growing pain often gets better on their own within a year or two. And if it does not go away completely in a year or so, it often becomes less painful. In the meantime, you can help ease your child’s discomfort with self-care measures, such as massaging your child’s legs. Some things that may help to decrease the pain include:
Massage the area. Reassure the child that the pain will be gone by morning. Stretch the muscles in the legs or the arms. Place a heating pad or warm, wet towel on the area. Give your child a warm bath. Give ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Don’t tell your child that the pain is caused by playing or growing, as the child may become afraid of both.See your doctor if
Intense pain. Pain that lasts through the morning. Swelling or redness in one particular area or in a joint. Pain associated with an injury. Pain associated with fever. Limping or limited movement of the limb. Any rash with weakness of limbs