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 and symptoms
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Pain in the muscles rather than joints
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Pain late in the day or at night, only to be gone the next morning
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Pain near shins, thighs, calves and at the back of the knee
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Often bilateral
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WHAT CAUSES IT?​
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Not growth spurts as commonly thought
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Possible emotional response
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Theories exist surrounding poor posture, tiredness, poor vascularity
HOW TO SELF MANAGE
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Massage the sore muscle
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Stretch the affected area
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Pain relief as required
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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?
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Exclude other sources of the pain
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Massage
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Electrotherapy
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Acupuncture
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Reassurance that it is benign, transient condition
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