It’s not supposed to hurt
Growing pains usually cause an aching or throbbing in the legs, often in the front of the
thighs, the calves or behind the knees. The pain often strikes in the late afternoon,
early evening or can even wake the child at night. My son experienced the latter of the
three scenarios nightly.
We call them growing pains but are they, really? No, not really. Turns out, that just
because they are called “growing pains” there’s no evidence that growth hurts.
According to the Mayo clinic, the cause of growing pains is unknown. But there’s no
evidence that a child's growth is painful. It’s been suggested that growing pains may
be linked to restless legs syndrome. Most likely the pain is from overuse from activities
such as running, jumping, climbing, wrestling with there siblings, or other such
activities that kiddos tend to enjoy.
Some simple things you can do for your child is:
Rub your child's legs. Children are often soothed with a gentle massage.
Use a heating pad. Heat is often welcomed to help with sore muscles. Use a hot water bottle before bedtime or when your child complains of leg pain. A warm bath before bedtime can sometimes help, too.
Stretching or foam rolling. Gentle stretching of the muscles in the legs during the day may help prevent pain at night. The same is true for foam rolling.
In addition to the above suggestions I would also employ a homeopathic remedy to help give my child relief.
My eldest used to complain of growing pains nightly and I used Calc phos 6x
before bed for many months. I would leave the bottle on his nightstand in case he woke up with pain. Calc phos is an excellent remedy for growing children and the #1 remedy for growing pains. With Calc phos there is aching in the legs and cramping pain in the calves. The legs feel tired and weak. They can have restlessness in the legs and the pain can extend from the thigh down the leg.
Calcium carbonicum 30c is also one of the top remedies to remember for this condition.
Because calcium is so important for the growing child it would make sense that if there was a lack of absorption of this mineral, there would be some discomfort when growing. The cramping pain is most often found in the calves when stretching out at night. Sometimes there are hard knots in the calves and the muscles are sore to touch. There can also be pain in the hollow of the knee.
I had recently switched my son to Calc carb, one dose nightly, because I was working on something else with him at the time and I, coincidently, found it to work even better for him than Calc phos. So much better in fact that after only a few short weeks of taking Calc carb, he no longer experienced nightly cramping and pain. Calc carb corrected the condition!
Another remedy to consider is Mag phos 6x. Often times children feel better when there is heat and firm pressure applied to the area of discomfort. Both of these symptoms are indications for the need for Mag phos. Dissolving a few pellets into a mug of hot water and then having the child sip when it is a safe temperature can often result in the cramps melting away and the child happily drifting off to sleep. Another method is to add approximately 10 pellets of Mag phos 6x to the warm bath water before bed, this can often help greatly.
The beauty of homeopathy is that we are not just looking to take the pain away at that
moment (although that is a nice little bonus) but we are using the symptom of pain, the
location of it and in this case the cause, to choose Calc phos or Calc carb in order to
uproot the propensity for this kind of event to happen in the first place. Once in awhile
it’s understandable that the body will be sore from an unusually strenuous day, but
normal childhood shenanigans should not result in nightly discomfort.
So the next time your child yells for help with so called "growing pains" you'll be ready.
Sweet dreams...
~ Lisa
The Author disclaims all liability for any loss or risk, personal or otherwise incurred as a consequence of use of any material in this article. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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