Why growing pains

They do know that children who have growing pains may feel more pain after physical activity than other children feel. Also, some children who have growing pains may have weaker bones than their peers. There is no test to diagnose growing pains. Instead, your doctor may ask you questions about when and where your child has pain.

Your doctor may also ask what your child did the day the pain started. Did your child spend part of the day playing sports, running, or jumping? A lot of physical activity during the day may cause growing pains to happen that night. Your answers to these questions may help your doctor diagnose your child with growing pains.

You may be able to help your child feel better when he or she has growing pains. Your doctor may suggest you do one or more of the following:. Growing pains may cause your child to be tired during the day. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U. This article was contributed by: familydoctor. This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone. Talk to your family doctor to find out if this information applies to you and to get more information on this subject.

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Osgood-Schlatter disease is one of the most common causes of knee pain in young children and athletes. It can…. It is painful and caused by swelling of…. There might be days, weeks, or months between pain episodes. Pain is not worse during growth spurts and the pain is not around the growth areas of bones. So "growing" pains might just be aches from the jumping, climbing, and running that kids do during the day.

There is no medical test for growing pains. If symptoms do not fit this pattern, the doctor may order blood tests and X-rays to look for another cause. Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. People commonly assume that growing pains are caused by bones stretching, but even during a growth spurt bones grow really slowly, too slowly to cause pain. The name was given in the s to s when the pains were thought to be from faster growth of the bones when compared to the growth of the tendons.

We know today that this is not true, but the name has remained. Growing pains vary from child to child and not all children will have them.

Sometimes growing pains last just a few minutes, other times they last a few hours. The pain may be mild, or it may be severe. However, if your child does have them, the pain may occur every day, but usually only happens intermittently. Children with severe cases may feel pain every day. The pains are often described as an ache or throb in the legs , often in the front of the thighs, the calves or behind the knees.

The pain can be in the arms, although that is less common. Growing pains often strike in the late afternoon or early evening and disappear by morning. The duration of the pain is usually between ten and thirty minutes, although it might range from minutes to hours.