<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Grow Your Knowledge of Growing PainsParents have been aching to ask me whether or not their child might be having growing pains.\u00A0 Well let me see if I can provide some information about this topic that is not too painful.Growing pains are a normal occurrence in at least 25% of children.\u00A0 They usually occur in both legs, rather than one, between the ages of 3 and 5 years and again between 8 to 12 years.\u00A0 They can be intermittent occurring once a week or be more frequent occurring once or twice a day but usually at the end of the day or in the evening.\u00A0They are described as deep muscle pains in the thighs, calves or behind the knee that can be so painful they can wake a child from sleep. There is no redness or swelling or limitation of movement with growing pains.What causes them?\u00A0 We aren\u2019t sure, but it does not appear to be related to active periods of bone growth. \u00A0It may be due simply to the strain that vigorous daytime activities put on growing muscles and bones.\u00A0 Some believe it is a variant of migraine headaches, in that parents or relatives of children with growing pains will have a history of migraine headaches.\u00A0The good news is that these are not dangerous pains and are usually self-limited, going away in a period of days or weeks.Treatment involves massage, stretching, use of acetaminophen or ibuprofen or even applying a heating pad to relieve the pain.When should you worry?\u00A0 If the pain is persistent in only one leg, or there is redness, swelling, a rash, fever, or limp or the pain seems worse during the day rather than during the late afternoon and evening \u2013 speak to your child\u2019s doctor because these signs are not associated with growing pains but may represent a more serious problem.Hopefully you\u2019ll grow to appreciate tips like this when it comes having a better sense of what growing pains are and are not.\u00A0Lewis First, M.D., is chief of Pediatrics at Vermont Children's Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. You can also catch \"First with Kids\" weekly on WOKO 98.9FM\u00A0and WPTZ Channel 5, or visit the First with Kids\u00A0video archives at http://www.FletcherAllen.org/firstwithkids\u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.mynbc5.com/article/grow-your-knowledge-of-growing-pains-1/3306808>