“The most common cause of pain in the lower extremities is growing pains; at night, when going to bed, the child often calls for leg pain or joint pain in the lower extremities, and the pain is relieved by rubbing it. When they get up the next morning, the pain is gone and everything moves freely. This kind of joint pain is a common phenomenon that occurs when children grow, and we call it growing pains.” In particular, children between the ages of 3 and 8 can grow 7 to 8 centimeters taller each year, with rapid bone growth and relatively slower growth of peripheral nerves, tendons, and muscles, resulting in tugging pain. This pain may be related to excessive growth, excessive fatigue, weather changes or micronutrient deficiencies. Characteristics of pain: The pain is mostly above and below the knee joint, aching or tingling, mostly in the evening or before bedtime, and lasts for a few minutes, rarely more than an hour. The pain has no obvious fixed site, and is not accompanied by redness, swelling, heat, if hot compresses or mild massage, the pain will soon disappear. Calcium supplements alone cannot relieve growing pains. Children with growing pains usually like to run and jump, but have a poor diet or are picky eaters such as rarely eating vegetables. There is no denying that some children are deficient in calcium during this time, but calcium supplements will not help much in relieving growing pains. This is because the cause of growing pains is not bone but soft tissue fatigue. Excessive calcium preparations are not well absorbed by children. The most important treatment for growing pains in children is timely rest. Every night before going to bed, soak the child’s feet and lower legs in hot water. However, when the child is not fatigued, more activity should be encouraged to build muscle strength. When the pain is heavy, you can local massage, take painkillers, can also take the appropriate amount of vitamin C. After proper rest, exercise, massage, medication symptomatic treatment, pediatric growing pains will soon be cured. Joint pain has many causes Not all joint pain is growing pains, when the child has joint pain, parents can first ask the child, which joint pain? Have they been traumatized? Rule out pain caused by trauma first, and then make a judgment based on physical signs. In addition, parents can also take a look at the painful joints of the skin there is no redness, warmth, swelling, but also to see if the joints can be moved, after the activity is not aggravated by the pain and so on. In addition to this, parents should also take their child’s temperature, as most acute arthritis involves a fever. Common diseases that cause joint pain: Transient hip synovitis: the cause is unknown, there may be a history of minor injuries, upper respiratory tract infections, etc.. Mostly seen from 3 to 10 years old, common around 5 years old, mostly unilateral, acute hip pain or radiating to the inner thigh and knee, more men than women. The child refuses to walk on the ground or walks with a limp in the affected limb, there is no joint swelling, but there is limited tenderness, and there is a small amount of joint effusion on MRI. The pain may disappear in a few hours or days. Synovial impaction: mostly caused by mild trauma and other reasons, walking limp, pain in the affected limb, joint movement is obviously limited. Aseptic necrosis of femoral head: unexplained claudication, squatting difficulty; medial knee pain, but no localized pressure pain; pressure pain in the center of the hip on the affected side, internal and external rotation of the hip can induce pain, or activity partially limited; late pain reduction or no symptoms, myasthenia gravis of the affected limb or shortness of the lower limb, mild limitation of hip joint activity or normal. Osteochondritis dissecans of tibial tuberosity: It is common in 8~15 years old, more male than female, mostly unilateral. Pain appears at the tibial tuberosity after exercise, localized swelling, and there may be pressure pain or percussion pain. The pain can be triggered when squatting or going up and down stairs. The pain is relieved or disappears after a few days of rest. Rheumatic fever: It is easy to cause pain in large joints such as ankle, knee, hip, wrist, elbow, shoulder, etc., i.e. rheumatoid arthritis, which may be accompanied by different degrees of joint swelling and pressure pain. The pain is short-lived, and in some cases, it subsides in only 1~2 days. If not controlled, it can cause rheumatic heart disease. Allergic purpura arthritis: one or more joints are swollen and painful with skin purpura, a few do not have purpura, which can lead to kidney damage if left untreated. Rheumatoid arthritis: common in 4~10 years old, patients with fever, joint pain and other symptoms. Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis: localized persistent pain, refusing to touch and feel. Acute septic arthritis: common in children aged 1~3 years old, with acute onset, obvious pain in the joint area, refusal to touch or press, and severe pain when the joints are slightly moved. Traumatic fracture and dislocation: severe pain, touching the localization or knocking the distal end, the pain increases.