Podiatry UK

Growing pains in children are common but generally do not cause any significant problems or long term problems. Despite that they can be quite distressing for the child and the parent as they wake the child at night. The definition of a true growing pains in children is pain in the upper part of the calf muscles or behind the knee that occurs at night. If the pain occurs during the day or in a different location, then it is not true growing pain. These need to be further investigated as to the causes. The problem with the diagnosis of fungal growing pains is that it is used as a waste basket term of any leg pain without a through history and assessment as to the cause. The reason that this is important is that there are some very serious, but uncommon problems that often get lumped into the growing pains diagnosis. The cause of growing pains in children is not really known, but is thought to result in a combination of biomechanical and biochemical changes, perhaps related to fatigue. The only real treatment for this is with the use of massage and reassurance of the child to get them back to sleep. Sometime stretching before bedtime can help. There are a number of anecdotal reports that foot orthoses may help growing pains in children.

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