Most people, at some point in their life, have experienced growing pains. You could even call it something of a rite of passage for growing up. It also serves as a parent’s go-to diagnosis if their child is feeling any pain during their formative years. That tender, aching feeling in your child’s legs is easy to dismiss simply as growing pains: the stretching of the tendons to accommodate the growing bone. But that presents us with a problem, doesn’t it?
If parents are constantly diagnosing pain that their child is feeling as growing pain, but the child is actually going through something for more serious, with the potential to affect their quality of life, then it could be a major problem. What if it’s not growing pains, but something more sinister? What other possibilities are there? Well, let’s take a look at the reality.
Growing pains generally tend to occur between ages of three and seven, although they can happen off and on up to age 14. These pains do not occur in a regular pattern. The pains can be anything from moderate to severe, occasionally causing the child to wake up from sleep. Growing pains are often seen in the evening or at night time, and have usually gone away by morning.
Junior Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) is the most common culprit that parents sometimes misdiagnose as simply growing pains. If it is properly diagnosed early on by a doctor and treated properly, children with JRA will recover without any serious problems to their health.
If the pain is persistent or appears with swelling, tenderness, or redness it could be the sign of something that’s more serious. Uncharacteristic tiredness, limping, or weakness may also be symptoms.
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