WHAT IS IT? GROWING PAINS
Episodic pain related to growth spurts. Growth pains affect 25-40 % children between the ages of 3 and 5 years, and 8 and 12years.
Signs & Symptoms
Pain in the muscles rather than joints
Pain late in the day or at night, only to be gone the next morning
Pain near shins, thighs, calves and at the back of the knee
Often bilateral
What Causes It?
Not growth spurts as commonly thought
Possible emotional response
Theories exist surrounding poor posture, tiredness, poor vascularity
How to Self Manage
Massage the sore muscle
Stretch the affected area
Pain relief as required
Heat to reduce pain
Prognosis
Growing pains should cease by adolescence
No intervention should be necessary besides the above mentioned management strategies (medication, heat etc).
How Physio Helps
Exclude other sources of the pain
Massage
Electrotherapy
Acupuncture
Reassurance that it is benign, transient condition