It’s easy to panic when your child comes to you with a complaint like “The bones in my leg hurt!” Did they break or sprain something? Do they need to be rushed to urgent care? Or are they just experiencing the normal aches and pains of childhood, otherwise known as growing pains?
The discomfort many kids feel with growing pains isn’t usually severe but it can be hard for them to actually describe, making it even harder for parents to know if the complaints about sore legs and achy knees is a true cause for concern or not.
To help you figure it out, here’s what you need to know about growing pains, from when and why they’re most likely to happen to what you can do to ease the ache. We’ll also help you understand the difference between normal growing pains and the possibility of something more serious.
What Are Growing Pains?
Growing pains are defined as pains in the legs without an identifiable cause. Identifiable causes include injuries and disorders of the bones, joints, or muscles, says Amanda Stovall, MD, pediatrician with Springfield Clinic in Illinois.
Growing pains are extremely common, though not all kids have them or notice them enough to talk about it. They often feel worse at night, says Christina Sheridan, MD, department chair of pediatrics at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare in California, and may come and go intermittently. Your child may feel growing pains in both legs or only one.
What Causes Growing Pains?
It’s unclear what causes growing pains. They got their name because experts used to think the pain stemmed from bone growth outpacing tendon growth during childhood, putting strain on the joints (i.e. kids were growing too fast for their bodies to keep up!). But there’s no evidence that these growth spurts in childhood can cause pain. Growing pains are also not dangerous, adds Dr. Stovall, and don’t affect growth.
Instead, the causes of growing pains are more likely associated with:
- Increased physical activity during childhood, like taking up a new sport or playing outside
- Having a lower pain threshold
- Being extremely flexible (hypermobility) and/or having flat feet
- Having low levels of vitamin D
- Genetic susceptibility
When Do Growing Pains Happen?
Growing pains are common among children during the preschool and early school years.Dr. Stovall says kids in the 3- to 5-year old age group and 8- to 12-year old age group are more likely to report growing pains than kids of other ages.
They also don’t continue on for much longer than age 12. “Growing pains typically decrease starting around age 10, and have resolved by the teenage years," adds Dr. Stovall.
Symptoms of Growing Pains
Some parents may remember what growing pains felt like when they were young, but others may not—and it can be tough to get a clear explanation from your child about what they’re feeling and where, or how intense the discomfort really is.
The most common symptoms of growing pains are:
- Aching or throbbing in the legs, especially in the calves, behind the knees, shins, or thighs
- Complaints of pain before bed or during the night, which can wake kids from sleep
- Aches on one or both sides of the body
- Deep muscle cramps
- Pain that lasts from a few minutes to a few hours
Though it can be frustrating, one of the easiest ways to tell if your child is experiencing growing pains is intermittent aching on an unpredictable schedule. Dr. Stovall says some children have growing pains multiple times per month, some weekly, and some may go many weeks to months between episodes.
How To Treat Growing Pains
Growing pains will come and go as they please, unfortunately, so you can’t do much to help your child prevent or avoid them. But you can use a few home remedies to make them more comfortable when they’re having growing pains.
Dr. Sheridan says gentle massage and stretching can help, as can the simple reassurance that what they’re feeling is totally normal and will get better soon. You can also give your child a dose of acetaminophen or ibuprofen to take the edge off, she says. Heating pads can also provide relief to sore muscles and comfort a child with growing pains.
If you think your child may have growing pains because of hypermobility, flat feet, or other physical stressors, you may also want to consider additional interventions to help improve your child’s growing pains, such as:
- Physical therapy to assist with extra flexibility
- A gradual increase in physical activity rather than a sudden one
- Kid-friendly counseling to increase the pain threshold or learn to cope with discomfort
- Orthotics to support flat feet during the day
When To Get Medical Help
While growing pains can be persistent and uncomfortable, there are a few things they should not be. Your child’s growing pains shouldn’t be progressive, says Dr. Stovall, meaning they shouldn’t get worse over time.
They also shouldn’t interfere with your child’s ability to play or cause other physical symptoms, says Dr. Sheridan: “There is no associated redness, increase in warmth, or swelling associated with growing pains.”
In general, if your child reports no recent injuries and is otherwise healthy, Dr. Sheridan says any symptoms like persistent pain, redness, swelling, or the inability to bear weight or walk normally give you a reason to contact your child’s provider as soon as possible for an evaluation.
Another important thing to know: Growing pains move around; they aren't always in the same limb or joint. That means if the pain is sometimes in one leg, sometimes in both, and alternates, that's a reassuring sign. If the pain is always in the same place, that is something to check out.
Kids with normal growing pains will have a normal physical exam, says Dr. Stovall, which can also help distinguish this annoying part of childhood from other more serious issues.
