What causes growing pains in children and should you be concerned with them?
Many things get branded as “growing pains” but just because there's pain in a developing child does not mean it is a true growing pain. It is possible to dismiss pain in a growing child as growing pains. A genuine growing pain just occurs during the night and not in the daytime. The pain is also in the upper calf muscle and behind the knee. If the pain happens in the daytime and in another area than the rear of the leg and knee, then it's not a true growing pain and is most likely as a result of something else which should be investigated. Commonly, it only occurs in younger children and wakes the child from sleep. There is no history of trauma or any type of injury to the location that the pain occurs in.
Growing pains usually are relatively harmless and self-limiting, in that they do come right after time. Nonetheless, they can be distressing to the child and parents at the time and, even more important, there are several serious and uncommon disorders which may have signs a lot like growing pains, therefore each case does need to be considered seriously and looked into to rule out these other possible causes. The consequences of missing these uncommon causes of similar symptoms can be significant.
The standard treatment of growing pains is simply reassurance of the child. They must be comforted and helped to get back to sleep. Gentle massage or rubbing of the leg in most cases be useful. In some instances medication may be used to help the pain and ease the getting back to sleep. Stretching out before going to bed and if the pain occurs might also be helpful. Of most importance is education about the nature of growing pains and that it will pass as well as an assessment of those possible unusual and serious causes of the discomfort.
