Growing Pains? When To See A Doctor And Other Causes Of Leg Pain In Children

When To See A Doctor

I'd advise anyone who can access a doctor easily to make an appointment when their child is experiencing what they think are growing pains. This can help rule out other, more serious, causes of pediatric leg pain (more about that in a minute) and put your mind at rest or ensure your child can access treatment in a timely manner if the pain is indeed caused by something other than growing pains.

Also always see a doctor if the pain only strikes one leg, if the child limps the following day, and if the pain persists during the day as well as at night. If you suspect our child might be injured or there are other symptoms like a lump, rash, swelling, fever, redness, loss of appetite, or fatigue, also see your child's pediatrician. 

Other Causes Of Pediatric Leg Pain

At the risk of sucking you into a parental vortex of doom, let's talk about other possible causes of pediatric leg pain as well. If the symptoms of growing pains from the first page describe your child's symptoms perfectly, there is no need to panic because it is more than likely that you are indeed dealing with growing pains. If the symptoms differ, you will indeed want to take your child to see a doctor because some of the other causes of leg pain in children are more serious than growing pains.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, JRA for short, may cause your child to wake up with leg pain but then feel better once they have moved around a while. JRA symptoms can include fevers during evening hours, leg pain but also wrist and finger pain, stiffness, rashes, swelling and limping.

Perthes Disease (also known as Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease or LCPD) is caused by a vascular inadequacy to the head of the femural bone, the longest bone in the body. The femural head gradually softens and breaks down. It manifests as one-sided pain in the upper half of the leg, and usually occurs in boys. Besides pain, symptoms include a limp, stiffness and reduced movement, and one leg being thinner and shorter than the other. Though the femural head gradually heals over time, results are much better with treatment. 

Leukemia, cancer of the blood cells, can cause bone pain in the legs as well as easy bruising and bleeding, anemia, abdominal pain, breathing difficulties, and swelling of the lymph nodes. Parents who Google "pediatric leg pain" or "leg pain in children" in the middle of the night while their kid is in pain may well conclude that they are possibly dealing with leukemia symptoms in children. Most often, they'll worry for no reason. If your child does have these symptoms, seeing a doctor right away is key, both if this worst-case scenario does turn out to be true and if your child just has growing pains. In the latter case, your mind can be put at ease so you can stop worrying.

See Also: Hip Dysplasia - An Overview

In conclusion, nightly leg pain that completely disappears during the day and doesn't result in a limp is most likely to warrant a diagnosis of growing pains, especially if the pain affects both legs (not always at once). Parents should not panic and suspect the worst right away, but seeing a doctor who will take the symptoms seriously rather than brushing them off as "growing pains" without looking at the child's history, performing a thorough examination, and ordering lab tests is always a good idea. Seeing a doctor will enable you to stop worrying if your child has growing pains, and ensures timely access to treatment if something more serious is going on.