Is It "Growing Pains" or Something Else?

Don't Miss the Underlying Problem Causing "Growing Pains"

You may often hear your child complain about foot, ankle or leg problems that you, naturally, attribute to "normal growing pains". While in a small number of cases this could be true, the majority of the time, the pains are actually caused by malalignment problems. Your child could be suffering from a problem like flatfoot or knock knee. Here's how you can tell the difference and help set your child up for a healthier, happier life!

Causes (What to Look For)

• Excessively flat feet, or feet that point outwards when your child walks.
• Knees appearing to touch each other when your child walks.
• Tight muscles - especially the calf, hamstrings and external rotator muscles of the hips.
• The following activities can cause malalignments to develop
• Walking barefoot
• Playing sports or other activities with poorly fitting shoes.
• Occasionally, rapid growth can lead to imbalances

Pre- and post-operation examples of flatfoot in children

Symptoms (What's the Complaint?)

• Pain during and after activity, especially along the inside of the shinbone and knees.
• Premature fatigue during activity.
• General avoidance of activity and exercise.
• Leg pain, especially at night, causing lack of sleep.
• Lower back pain.
• Often associated with toe walkers.

Treatment (Get Back to Their Best)

When we have a child or young adult come through the office complaining of symptoms that could be caused by lower extremity malalignment, here is what we check to diagnose and treat the underlying cause: 

• Medical history of your family to be sure there aren’t infections, traumas or inflammatory conditions that can mimic problems in the lower extremity.
• A thorough lower extremity exam by our doctors to identify areas of tightness, weakness, instability and pain.
• Changing of shoe gear to add more support.
• Advisement against going barefooted, especially when your child is experiencing pain.
• Physical therapy to decrease overall muscle tightness and to improve muscle strength, coordination, reaction time, and flexibility.
• Custom molded orthotics (a shoe insert made from a plaster impression of your child's foot) to realign the lower extremity. In many cases this will eliminate the leg pains that these children experience almost overnight.
• Casting the leg to stretch the calf muscle may be needed. This is a temporary walking cast that requires undergoing a lot of activity while in the cast. If a child has tight muscles below the knee, a walking cast is crucial to help permanently eliminate the pain.

Prognosis (Staying Healthy)

Early identification of predisposing causes that lead to these growing pains is important to your child’s overall health and wellness. Many children who have been diagnosed with growing pains have primary causes that can be addressed with great success. 

Many of these children are not able to keep up with their peers during activity due to pain and premature fatigue, ultimately affecting their self-esteem. They may become less likely to participate in sports and lead a less active lifestyle in general. 

Inactive children usually become inactive adults, who may be overweight. It is critical to understand why your child is having leg discomfort rather than brushing off the problem as "growing pains." Really, there is no such thing.

Plus, the Foot, Ankle & Leg Specialists can always quickly eliminate these pains and help your child get back to their happy, healthy, active best.

Use our online scheduler to book your appointment. If you have a busy schedule during the week, we are open Saturdays by appointment only in our recently redone Plantation office. 

Click here to book your appointment and get your child back to their best!