Ds and leg pain when to worry

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

From time to time like today ds 5yo will cry and complain about pain in his shin area. He has had pain in his legs since he was around 3yo but those happened mostly at night. The new pains are happening during the day more so than at night.

I am thinking growing pains but I am a bit concerned because my younger brother had a heart defect that caused poor circulation in his legs and had severe leg pain. The heart problem wasnt diagnosed until he was 8yo he then had open heart surgery to correct it.

When ds was 2 months old I mentioned this to the ped and they did a chest x ray and an EKG at that time both came back 100% normal but I am still paranoid.

I just gave him some pain meds because he was really hurting

Is there anything else that can cause bad leg pain in the shin area other than growing pains that I should be worried about?

[PreggieUBA2C]

Does he run a lot on pavement? I had shin splints from doing that and it took three years of finding the grassy areas to walk and run (when I finally was well enough to run again) before the pain stopped. It felt like my bones were individually pulling apart lengthwise in the middles, and flexing that way with every step.

It could also be a misaligned pelvis. Or circulation as you suspect.

If it were me, I would take my dc to a very skilled chiropractor and maybe a massage therapist too especially since it's been going on so long. Then some things could be ruled out before getting into more complicated testing, etc....

My disclaimer is that I am not sure I believe that pain is a healthy way for the body to express its growth. I think the pain, like in every other instance, is a signal that something is wrong. I wouldn't accept pain as coming just from growing.

My dc are all yet young, but when they have had muscular or joint pains, I have had them dealt with chiropractically or through massage (I have lots of experience with both, so I massage them myself; they've never had chronic pain, so I'm dealing with temporary pain and not potentially medical issues), and they have always been fine afterward.

So, I have four dc and while my eldest is only 6.5 yrs old, none have ever had anything I would call 'growing pains.' I would be very concerned about recurrent pains in a young child and especially with them having been going on for so long now.

I hope you find a solution. Chronic pain is a serious impediment to enjoying life for some people- me included.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

He does complain more after playing hard. He falls quiet a bit but like normal kid falling not just out of the blue falling over. No more than my dd fell at his age.

I am not even sure where to look for a chiro. that works with children. I know there isnt any near me. Probably have to go to the nearest city over and hour away. Not sure insurance would cover it either but I will look into it.

It dosnt happen a lot maybe 3-4 times a year so far but when it does he is obviously in pretty bad pain. Sometimes it is one leg sometimes the other.

[LynnS6]

Our ds had this - it was often after he'd been running a lot or being really active. Sometimes it just random. We get it more in the summer than the winter, which makes me think it's partly activity related and partly growing pains.

Make sure his shoes fit well and aren't getting worn down. Ds has a terrible gait (so bad we've considered physical therapy) and wears down the edges of his shoes. When that happens, his legs hurt more.

We'd start with an ice pack and that usually did the trick. If it didn't, I would give a pain med. It never lasted more than a day or two.

[DariusMom]

My son has had "growing pains" since he was about 2 years old. He still has them and he's now 7.

What we discovered after a lot of testing (leukemia runs in my family, so I was paranoid as leg pain can be a symptom . .. .) was that DS is hypermobile. Basically, he is "too" flexible, causing him to overextend himself, especially when he's been playing a lot.That also made him clumsy and kind of floppy.

There isn't too much to be done about it. He went to a physical therapist for around two years. She helped him, but, ultimately, he just has to build up more muscle naturally, which won't happen til he reaches puberty.

Also, he has extremely flat feet. Getting him good arch supports especially molded to his feet has helped.

Good luck.

[PreggieUBA2C]

I was hypermobile until about a year ago when after decades of both being ignored, told it was all in my head, I just needed to change my workout, diet whatever (I was an athlete... ), etc..., I began to investigate and understand the patterns in my own health and took charge.

After two years of my own treatment program, I worked with a naturopath to help me through some of what came up during that for a short time until I had a handle on things again- the endocrine system is very complex.

I have had insufficient adrenals all my life, which is why I was hypermobile. When the adrenal glands aren't working properly, the gluey stuff that keeps joints at just the right amount of tension is lacking to whatever degree the adrenals aren't functioning optimally.

I have treated my adrenals and thyroid (4 yrs so far and a few more to go) and while I am pg (!) for the first time in my life, my joints are not hypermobile. Even as they have relaxin in them for pg, they are tighter and stronger than ever before in my life. With RELAXIN they are TIGHTER!!!

I wish that drs recognised this as a health issue and had more concern about symptoms than labwork, because if they had, I wouldn't have had so much pain growing up. I didn't have 'growing pains', I had a lack of 'glue' in my joints. I used to have to put my leg back into my hip beginning when I was around 4 yrs old. It was very painful. I ended up with surgery that did nothing but leave a scar and eat up six months of my life. Everyone told me it was growing pains and then overuse (at 16 yrs old??? Seriously???). Not true.

There are better explanations for pain than that it comes from growing, imo, even if most people feel more comfortable just going with that.

From my own experience and in watching my dc grow, I cannot accept the idea that growing causes pain in and of itself. Pain is a signal for what is not normal, for something gone wrong. Our bodies are wired to anticipate the movements and stretching and tearing associated with growing, so a pain signal doesn't make sense. If growing were abnormal and our immune system needed an alarm, then pain would make sense, but growing is normal, healthy and built into our DNA and our immune function- not abnormal, not requiring any special alarm such as pain.

My pain was an alarm that I heard but that others ignored and that eventually I took on myself.

This is my own perspective, of course and many in the medical industry prefer to go with 'growing pains' when confronted with this, but I also know a lot of hcps who don't accept it as valid and take it as a cue to investigate and resolve the issue causing the alarm. My experience has been that the latter is the more accurate and beneficial response.

OP, I would find a chiro who does paediatrics even if it was an hour away, personally (but we're used to driving that far for everything). I've never had a chiropractor, massage therapist or naturopath covered by insurance, but the medical industry long ago lost my trust and then when I went back (ugh, the regret), I only gained more confidence that that particular industry has too many conflicts of interest to really help me in my real life.

ETA: On hypermobility, it is true that more muscle may help, but it may be a very delicate balance. For most of my childhood and into adulthood, my muscles were too strong for my unglued joints, so while initially building muscle helped, as my adrenals functioned less, my own muscles would pull my joints apart. Imagine that- making a fist pulled my finger joints apart and flexing my bicep did the same to my elbow and so on.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Unfortunatly if it isnt covered by insurance it isnt something we can easily do. We have unpaid bills as it is now and to add more to it scares me. Every penny dh makes is already spent.

Ds is fine again today no pain just like every time before it leaves as quickly as it starts.

[PreggieUBA2C]

Originally Posted by MCatLvrMom2A&X

Unfortunatly if it isnt covered by insurance it isnt something we can easily do. We have unpaid bills as it is now and to add more to it scares me. Every penny dh makes is already spent.

Ds is fine again today no pain just like every time before it leaves as quickly as it starts.

Yeah, that's hard. And given that we've never had anything that actually helped covered, I really do know how hard that can be- both when all available funds have to go toward that help and when the funds just aren't there; that's the worst. It is seriously not the best time to need help, hey? I hope your son doesn't though and that his body resolves the pain on its own. I also trust in our bodies to do that for most things, but when help is needed, it's great to be able to find some.

At one point, when I was pg with ds3, my dh was just out of school and we had no $$ whatsoever. My former chiro was so concerned about my body that he arranged for me to have pro bono work done by a really fabulous chiro in my immediate area. She did this for a year! What an amazing woman!!! She had a policy in her practice that chiro is for everyone and she did not turn anyone away regardless of ability to pay. She didn't have many pro bonos even with that policy (people don't tend to take unfair advantage of real generosity, especially personal situations like that, ime), but I certainly was very grateful for her generosity. Maybe there is someone like that near you?

Btw, I don't mean to enforce my own situation on your family assuming it is relevant (obviously it is more likely that it is isn't and that would be great!); I just wanted to offer what I have experienced so that you have something other than 'growing pains' to go on, just in case, since you posted with concerns (which I would most definitely share!)

I'm really glad that your ds is feeling better today!