“Growing pains” are pains around the knee joint or on the front side of the lower leg in children without any history of trauma, normal movement, and no localized tissue redness, swelling, or pressure pain. After examination, the child is considered to have “growing pains” when the possibility of other diseases is ruled out. Growing pains occur due to the child’s relatively high activity level and rapid growth of long bones, which is not coordinated with the growth and development of local muscles and tendons, resulting in physiological pain.
Pathogenesis: rapid bone growth, accumulation of metabolic products, internal rotation of the tibia, external rotation of the knee, etc.
Symptom characteristics: mostly lower limb pain, growing pain most commonly occurs in the knee, typically bilateral pain, but also unilateral pain, mostly muscular pain, and the painful area will not have redness, swelling or fever, mostly at night, the pain will make the child feel particularly uncomfortable, even unbearable. Sometimes it can be triggered by excessive activity during the day.
Diagnosis: Doctors usually diagnose growing pains based on the child’s symptoms and the results of physical examination.
Disease identification: Fractures, malignant osteoma, childhood leukemia, juvenile arthritis.
Treatment: “Growing pains” are muscular pains and do not require special treatment when they occur. The most effective way to deal with painful episodes is to provide local massage and hot compresses for children to help reduce the pain level. When the symptoms are obvious, reduce strenuous exercise. Nutrient supplementation: You should let your baby take more nutrients that can promote the growth of cartilage tissue, such as milk, bones, walnuts and eggs, which all contain elastin and collagen. And vitamin C is beneficial to collagen synthesis. You can let your baby eat more vegetables and fruits rich in VC, such as bok choy, leek, spinach, citrus, grapefruit, etc.