What are growing pains?

Growing pains are inconvenience located in the lower extremities that some children suffer during childhood, between 2 and 12 years. Normally, they occur in the evening and they do not usually have any organic cause, nor are they related to any disease. The annoyances are usually flashing during childhood, with two age ranges: between 3 and 7 years, and during adolescence.

Growing pains are something very common that affects up to 40% of the child population sometime.

Why does it hurt to grow?

I know the cause is unknown of these annoyances; Doctors do not have evidence to show that bone growth causes pain.

Perhaps the most realistic cause is that such annoyances are secondary to which children perform during the day, possibly secondary to minimal muscle injuries that go unnoticed while the child is active and are manifested at night when the child has relaxed muscles and the movement of the legs during sleep causes pain.

Symptoms of growing pains

The pain typically appears when the child sleeps during the night or a nap, appearing before going to bed or waking the child during sleep.

• It is usually typical for the child to complain about a certain pain in both legs. It would be a diffuse pain, difficult to locate. The most affected areas are the calves, the front area of ​​the thighs or the shins.
• Sometimes also can affect the arms, but it is much less frequent
• The pain is usually muscular, without affecting the joints.
• pain (of varying intensity)

These episodes can recur intermittently for months. But the evolution is excellent in all cases, since these pains disappear over the years, at the end of the growth. The boy does not present any sequel, nor alteration in its growth and development.

What can I do if my child has growing pains?

The pain usually improves with a massage or the application of dry heat. Sometimes we can give some pain reliever, like.

If your child is physically active, stretching after exercise can prevent growing pains.

How is it diagnosed?

Growing pains are what we pediatricians call a diagnosis by exclusion. This means that illness or injury must be ruled out before discomfort is diagnosed as growing pains. For this, it is necessary to carry out a correct medical history and physical examination, where there is no evidence of diseases or injuries that justify the pain.

If the characteristics of the pain are compatible with growing pains, a normal, pain-free physical examination during the day, no additional test is necessary.

When to see the pediatrician

It is necessary if the child presents:

• Intense, non-intermittent, daily pain that persists throughout the day.
• Redness or swelling of a joint.
• Limp.
• Unilateral pain.
• .
• Rashes.
• Bad general state.
• Loss of appetite and / or weight.
• Tiredness or weakness

What you should know:

• They are very frequent pains that affect 40% of children at some point between 2 and 12 years of age.
• There is no evidence that bone growth causes pain, which could be related to the physical activity they do.
• The normal thing is that they disappear with the passage of the years, at the end of the growth.

Dra. Esther Martínez García Pediatric specialist