This is for the parents...not tri related....about kids growing pains

I consulted Mrs Pikle (who is a real doctor by the way!) and she said that there IS such a thing as growing pains, usually joint and bone related and not muscular, and that it is fairly common, especially when kids are growing quite fast. She also gave the usual caveat that if it persists or you think it may be something else then make sure you visit your doctor.

Hope that helps - its more of a response than I usually get when I think there might be something wrong with me!!! LOL

Cool - thats 400 posts as well. Glad I finally posted soemthing that may be of help at last....

Hi Nancy,

It's hard when our kids hurt dosen't it?  I have 2 boys, now 11 & 9. The 11 yr old never went through those aches and pains, but my youngest, Torben often does. It started years ago with complaints of leg pain at night (and no not 'I want attention type complaints'). I would massage them, (this provided the best relief), offer ice or heat - it varied on which worked, and try to help him understand about his body growing. I did occassionally give him tylenol or ibuprofen.  He would also wake up at night sometimes b/c of it. He still does have leg pain occasionally, but not as frequently. I suspect it will be back with adolescents though.  He too is tall and lanky - skinniest little legs I've ever seen!

Explaining the role of vitamins/nurtients might be helpful in encouraging healthy food choices too ( mostly we still decide what they eat, but ) - not sure how much of a role this plays into those growing pains, but proper calcium/vit D etc can't hurt.

Good luck, Nancy, and give Jack a hug,

Sann 

I vividly remember going through wicked growing pains when I was 12 ( I grew 12 inches in about 8 months).Every bone and joint in my body felt like it was sprained at once.  My knees were especially painful.

It helped to elevate them, and to sleep with a pillow between my knees (I do that to this day). Hot and cold baths helped me a little. There was no ibuprophen at the time, but it probably would have helped a little.

 I firmly believe, though, that I developed my high tolerence to pain [ i actually am fairly resistant to pain, so much so that my Dr. usually skimps on my pain meds ;-(  ] During that period.  I realized that

1. The fact that it wasn't fair didn't matter, it was just going to hurt.

2. I wasn't going to die because of it

3. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and go on

These were new lessons for me as a kid. Sure, I whined and complained, and felt sorry for myself. However, in retrospect, what I took away from that miserable summer was worth it in the long run. I know it was pretty tough on my parents too.

Anecdotally, people say that calcium sometimes helps with growing pains.  Most kids that experience growing pains feel it in the knee or just below the knee. 

Did you mean to call yourself Dr. Crapadiem?  I chuckled at that.

Okay, I don't have kids, but I have something called "Restless Leg Syndrome."  To me it sounds like a made-up disease, but it's real and there's a website about it: http://www.rls.org/what_is_rls/ (or Google for it and you'll find lots of sites). It runs in my family.  I'm lucky and it doesn't affect me too much; I don't need medication and it doesn't usually wake me up in the middle of the night.  What happens is if I'm tired or I've been sitting still for too long, my legs start to ache...sometimes it's just a dull ache and sometimes it's pretty painful.  People tend to think I'm fidgety (which I am) but it's just because I need to keep my legs moving all the time.  Sitting in a chair in the normal fashion is a killer for me.  At work, I almost always have one leg up by my butt or I'm sitting cross-legged (which is REALLY hard to do an an office chair )

Not sure if it relates to your son at all, but I thought I would pass along the information.  I'm not sure what causes it, but I've had it since I was a teenager (I'm 31 now so I've learned to live with it).

You must be very regular.

You must be very regular.

I know this is a serious thread,  but hilarious comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!