Is it just growing pains? A blog article from Parks Therapy Centre St Neots

Many children complain of bone, muscle and joint pains for which they seek medical advice.

Unfortunately these complaints are often misdiagnosed and put down to growing pains by parents and healthcare professionals alike.

The things you need to know about true growing pains are that typically:

• Growing pains do not occur during the day

• No matter how severe the pain at night,  children with growing pains always feel better the next morning.

• If a child is complaining of pain on waking up in the morning or during the day they would probably benefit from a medical assessment.

Pain associated with growth.

There are many common childhood and adolescent disorders that are not growing pains, but are associated with periods of growth.

The main things to remember are:

• Not all children grow at the same time: Imagine the height and build range of a class of teenagers of the same age.

• Children do not always grow at a uniform rate: Imagine the young man who over the summer holidays no longer fits any of his school uniform that he had previously been wearing for a whole school year.

With all these factors in mind, this can often lead to muscular imbalances within the body, extra stress and pulling on certain joints and other structures and difficulty in co-ordinating a new body that months before was not the same size and shape it is now.

These can all lead to pain that with a thorough assessment and often simple exercises and/or management advice can be greatly helped.

Other things to remember about children and pain.

A child can have back and neck pain as well as a musculoskeletal or sporting injury just like an adult.

Just because they are still growing does not mean that they can only be complaining of growing pains.

There are a number of conditions that are more prevalent in childhood, such as hypermobility (a phenomenon that gives an individual excessive joint movement). In itself hypermobility is not a problem, (and in some cases can be very beneficial) as long as the individual is in control of the excessive movement. If hypermobility does cause problems physiotherapy has been shown to be very helpful in regaining that control and helping with pain associated with the condition.

Physiotherapy can help after injuries or broken bones to regain joint range of movement, strength and stability.

At Parks Therapy Centre the chartered physiotherapists specialise in the assessment of children and adolescents with bone, muscle and joint pain.

At Parks we are happy to answer any questions or queries you may have in regard to this topic.

Please contact reception also to book an appointment with us.

Tel: 01480 367055

These notes are intended for your guidance and advice only and were correct at the time of print / publishing.  If you have any doubts you should contact your GP or a Chartered Physiotherapist where a full assessment of your condition will take place and an appropriate treatment plan for your condition will be given.

© Parks Therapy Centre 2013