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Kids Don鈥檛 Feel Pain from Growing

While growing up can be a pain, 鈥済rowing pain鈥 itself is a fiction.

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For children, 鈥溾 can be a source of fear and distress as your body aches in a way no one can do much to help with. For parents, they can be a source of anxiety, as they worry that something more serious is wrong or fret over their inability to help their child. I do not doubt the reality that children feel pains in their limbs, usually lower, that we adults call 鈥済rowing pains.鈥 They just don鈥檛 have anything to do with growing.

As defines, 鈥淕rowing pain is a frequent noninflammatory syndrome consisting of intermittent, often annoying, pains that affect the lower extremities of children.鈥 They鈥檙e present in an estimated of children. They鈥檙e usually not a sign of anything more serious. They almost always themselves with time. But that doesn鈥檛 take away from the fact that for kids experiencing them, they鈥檙e scary and unpleasant.

When it comes to what exactly causes growing pains, the truth is that we鈥檙e not sure. But we do know that they to periods of growth. At least has found that children who experience growing pains have lower pain thresholds than those who don鈥檛, potentially implicating pain tolerance, but more research is needed.

-wise, you can think of addressing growing pains like you would any sore muscle: hot compresses, age-appropriate pain killers, and a lot of chocolate and snuggles.


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