When your child is rapidly growing and complains of pain in their knees and legs, its common to put this down to growing pains. But what are growing pains in children? Why do some children get them and others don’t? Also, how can we treat growing pains?
Symptoms of Growing Pains:
- Growing pains in children present as a pain in the back of the knees, calf muscles, and thighs.
- Naturally, as we grow so do our muscles, bones, and soft tissue. This growing process is not actually meant to be painful, so then why do growing pains occur?
Causes of Growing Pain in Children:
- Growing pains often occur in active kids who do a lot of running, walking, climbing, and jumping.
- This is likely due to an overuse of the muscles and subsequent pain.
- The calves, thighs, and backs of the knees are regions of pure muscle. This would make sense as to why pain occurs here.
- These aches can be painful, however, will not usually cause any long-lasting symptoms or issues.
Treatment for Growing Pain:
The best treatment for growing pains in children is to massage the area daily for up to 5 minutes, and use heat. Massage with your hands, foam roller, spiky ball, or Point of Release.
A heat pack can be put onto the muscles for ten minutes every morning and before bed. These activities will help to relax the muscles and increase circulation to these areas, to repair the muscles.
When You Should be Concerned About Growing Pain:
There are other pains associated with growing, that cannot be called growing pains. This is because other conditions are due to something occurring in the body other than sore muscles, and can have a longer-lasting effect on the body requiring treatment.
If your child is suffering from any pains at the back of the heels, in the knees, under the feet, then please make an appointment with our podiatrist at Well Heeled Podiatry as soon as you can for a paediatic assessment.
These pains often mean that there is too much muscle strain, which can become worse over time.
