Something I hear a lot from concerned parents, “is it growing pains?, but I never had growing pains?”. You’d assume that every child who grew would get growing pains, makes sense, but then this isn’t the case. We often see children who are diagnosed with growing pains have other associated risk factors including poor posture, low muscle tone, and a diagnosis of anxiety or depression. But what is growing pains?

Growing pains is what we call a generalised diagnosis for aches and pains children have, with no cause. Experienced at specific times in their lives it is believed to be associated with changes in bone to muscle length ratio usually seen with growth spurts. Aching will occur in the back of the thigh, leg and front of the shin varying in intensity, which comes and goes, and has no direct cause or injury associated with it.

The number of children I have seen in my experience who actually have “growing pains” are few, and perhaps that is because usually these periods of discomfort will not persist, the child will return to usual activities and the concern passes. Some things to be concerned about in children who have “growing pains” include:

• waking pain

• swelling/redness in joints

• persistant pain especially in the morning

• limping

• fever

• weakness/fatigue

• loss of appetite

It is important to see your regular practitioner if your child has any of these symptoms (The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne).

Should your child in fact have growing pains, usually a course of regular stretching, heat and massage will alleviate symptoms, as prescribed by a physiotherapist.

If you have further questions about growing pains, reach out to us via our social media platforms.

Sam and Andy