Does your Child have Growing Pains?

To parents out there with students between the ages of 8 and 13, here is an informative, short article to summarize some physical pains your children may be experiencing. You, yourself may not remember this experience, or simply did not experience significant pain while your body was growing and going through puberty. However, almost everyone does and it’s important for us as teachers and parents to recognize and understand the changes our children are going through. As a middle schooler these growing pains can keep them up at night, distract them in school, and sometimes make their moods slightly difficult to tolerate.

Here is the low down: Growing pains are commonly thought of as the pain that occurs when your bones and muscles are growing, and they may feel like both sharp pains and/or long aching pains. Regardless, they are real (not in our students’ imaginations), and research has given us a more specific reason for the reason these pains are occurring. According to Lisa Pecos, “growing pains can be brought on by extra strain that is put on the body by running and playing at times of rapid growth.” 

Your thoughts might be running now, and you may be remembering some incidents from your MS students’ lives. You may be thinking ‘Well, my son has just started school and they are playing on a soccer team. On the days of their practices, his complaints about the pain in his legs are highest.’ Research supports this, as the onset of soreness does not usually happen until the evening or at night (explaining why he doesn’t complain to his coaches, but complains of pain once he is home from practice). This would be a reason why he can’t fall asleep or stay asleep throughout the night.

Lisa also informs us that the soreness your child feels should not be sensitive to touch. Thus, if your child feels more intense, sharper pains when the area affected (sore area) is touched, then it may be that a more serious injury has occurred. Furthermore, any visible bruising, redness, or swelling is also not a part of growing pains symptoms; you should make an appointment with your general physician or sports medicine doctor if those symptoms persist.

Now that you know that your child’s complaints could be real, your next question is indubitably, “What can I do?” Growing pains will generally go away on their own, but it is suggested to make sure they continue their regular patterns of a healthy meal along with a well-rested sleep session. If your child is really keen to get the soreness out, you can try a couple of basic methods to keep their minds and spirits at ease:

1. Always make sure your child stretches after high-intensity activities. To make it a benefit for the whole family, parents can get on the ground with them and “stretch it out!” The recommended timing is 15 seconds per stretch to each side of the body, then repeat. This could be a great way to educate, demonstrate, and show your children you understand and care. 
2. Give your child a glass of milk after a strenuous day, and my suggestion is for it to be  chocolate. No joke! There is scientific research that shows chocolate milk is one of the best drinks your child could have after a tough training. And of course, the placebo effect of it is that it just tastes so darn good! Yummy!
3. Teach your child to self-massage. This is a great time to teach them about sore muscles. Explain to them that during exercises, muscles tear, and in order for them to build back up even stronger, they need two things: PROTEIN and REST. A good meal will get the protein in them, and massaging the area will bring blood to the affected (sore) area. Why is this important (you may be thinking?) - What’s in the blood that affects sore areas? My answer is this: All kinds of good stuff! In our blood is the protein they just ate (milk, meat, veggies!), the white blood cells to heal, and so much more. Self-massage is a great way to get your child understanding about exercise and soreness.

Growing pains are not serious, but they can feel like the end of the world to any middle schooler who doesn’t understand why they’re so sore and achy. My best suggestion is to reassure them that everything will be fine, and that those pains are NORMAL! Try to validate the pain, but don’t enable your child to “take advantage” of it. Continue to have them act as they always do, but provide support and reinforce that growing pains are only for a short time and it soon will pass.

As stated before, growing pains are not serious, but if pain and soreness persist and any of the following symptoms (provided by Pecos) continue to cause pain to your child for more than a day straight, contact your pediatrician. 

• Any pain that hinders movement or causes limping
• Unexplained pain early in the day, even after the child has had a good night’s sleep
• Redness or swelling in the area of the pain
• Unexplained rashes
• General weakness or fatigue lasting for a long period of time
• Strange behavior
• Fever

If these symptoms do occur it would be beneficial to check out this link from the MayoClinic and prepare yourself for an appointment with your pediatrician. 

Thanks to a parent from the awesome #SISRocks for asking me this question. It helps me not only research some questions myself, but also inform others. As I tell my students in class, “If you have a question, there is most likely another student with the same question.”

Resources:

Dowshen, Stephen, MD. "Growing Pains." www.kidshealth.org. N.p., July 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Pecos, Lisa. "Children's Growing Pains: What Can Parents Do?" 3 Boys And A Dog. N.p., 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

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