What should I do if my child has knee pain? Four tips to help you solve

The birth of a baby is something that makes every family happy. When you become a new parent, you always seem panicked. How should you take good care of your baby? Many new parents may encounter this problem: their children often complain of knee pain, especially at night, when the complaints are even louder. Sometimes they wake up in pain while sleeping, which makes parents worried to death. What should I do if my child has knee pain?

It turns out that this pain is typical "growing pains". Young children are in the growth and development stage with active metabolism, and the stimulation of periosteum caused by growth and development can cause uncomfortable feeling of soreness in leg joints. "Growing pains" are common in children aged 3-12 years old (mostly boys according to statistics), because children of this age are more active and their long bones grow faster, causing uncoordinated growth and development of local muscles and tendons, which in turn causes growing pains.

3 characteristics of growing pains

Feature 1: Mostly pain in the lower limbs

Growing pains most commonly occur in the front of the knees, calves, and thighs, and occasionally in the groin area. The pain is usually felt outside the joints. Typically the pain is bilateral, but unilateral pain may also occur.

Feature 2: Mostly muscle pain

Growing pains are primarily muscle pain, not joint or bone pain. There will be no redness, swelling or heat in the painful area.

Sign 3: Pain often occurs at night

The biggest characteristic of growing pains is that they almost always occur at night. Don’t children feel pain during the day? Actually, this is not the case. During the day, children are more active, so even if they feel uncomfortable, they may not notice it because they are focused on other things. When the body and mind have relaxed at night and are ready to have a good rest, the "pain" symptoms will make the child feel particularly uncomfortable or even unbearable.

Although growing pains are not a disease, once a baby experiences such discomfort, parents should take the child to the hospital for diagnosis as soon as possible. Never judge on your own or ignore the condition. Before going to the hospital, Mom and Dad

First, confirm the following four questions:

Is there any swelling or warmth in the area where your child is in pain?

Does your child feel pain during the day?

Does it hurt when you walk or run or jump?

Does the child have a fever?

Because when the doctor is diagnosing and treating the baby, he will first check whether the baby's pain is caused by other diseases. Only after completely ruling out other possible factors that may cause the disease can he determine that it is "growing pains." In many cases, babies are unable to express their thoughts and feelings clearly, so parents need to understand them in advance and grasp more correct information to cooperate with the doctor's diagnosis.

After confirming that the baby is experiencing "growing pains", the doctor will only prescribe some painkillers unless the pain is unbearable. In most cases, growing pains do not require special treatment. But there are some ways to relieve pain, parents may wish to know:

1. Distract Your Attention

Distracting your baby's attention is an effective way to help him ignore the pain. Mom and dad can attract their baby by telling stories, playing games, playing with toys, watching cartoons, etc. Treat sick babies with more tenderness and care than usual, because the encouragement and spiritual support of parents are the most important pain relief for children, sometimes even more effective than drugs.

2. Local hot compress and massage

Parents can use a hot towel to massage or apply hot compress to the baby's painful area. This can ease the child's tension and relieve the discomfort caused by the pain. When massaging, be sure to pay attention to the strength of kneading. Let your baby fall asleep with gentle caressing.

3. Reduce strenuous exercise

Growing pains are not a disease and there is no need to restrict the baby's activities. However, if the pain is severe, you should make sure your baby rests more, relaxes his muscles, and avoids strenuous activities.

4. Supplement nutrients

Babies should consume more nutrients that can promote the growth of cartilage tissue, such as milk, bones, walnuts, and eggs, which all contain elastin and collagen. Vitamin C is beneficial to collagen synthesis, so your baby can eat more vegetables and fruits rich in VC, such as green vegetables, leeks, spinach, citrus, grapefruit, etc.

What should I do if my child has knee pain? New parents can breathe a sigh of relief. Baby's knee pain is not a big deal. It is a very normal phenomenon. Parents can follow the methods mentioned above to determine whether their baby’s knee pain is due to “growing pains.” If so, you might as well try the four methods mentioned above. But one thing must be reminded: "growing pains" are intermittent. If your child continues to experience pain, you should go to the hospital immediately and seek help from a professional doctor.