Why does my child have leg pain in the middle of the night?

Some parents always encounter the situation that their children have leg pain. In fact, this situation is not only related to the disease, but also closely related to the child's growth. When a child grows rapidly, his bones develop faster, which can cause some growing pains. Especially when children have leg pain in the middle of the night, it may be caused by growing pains. During this period, parents should pay attention to calcium supplementation for their children.

Growing pains refer to pain around the knee joint or the front of the calf in children. There is no history of trauma to these areas, the activities are normal, and there is no redness, swelling or tenderness in the local tissues. After examining the child and excluding the possibility of other diseases, it can be determined that it is growing pains. Growing pains are mostly physiological pains caused by children's relatively large amount of activity, rapid growth of long bones, and the lack of coordination with the growth and development of local muscles and tendons. The clinical manifestations are mostly lower limb muscle pain, which often occurs at night.

Clinical manifestations

1. Mostly pain in the lower limbs

The most common sites of occurrence are the knee, calf, front of the thigh, and occasionally in the groin area, and the pain is usually outside the joint. Typically the pain is bilateral, but in some cases it is unilateral.

2. Mostly muscle pain

The pain is mostly muscle pain, not joint or bone pain. There is no redness, swelling or heat in the painful area.

3. Pain occurs more often at night

The pain occurs almost exclusively at night. Because children are very active during the day, even if they feel uncomfortable, they may not notice it because they are focused on other things. At night, when the body and mind are relaxed, the pain symptoms will make the child feel uncomfortable or even unbearable.

Growing pains usually occur intermittently. If the child's pain is persistent, it is likely caused by other diseases. The following diseases are most likely to be mistaken for growing pains.

1. Fracture

Because children are very active and their bones are not yet fully developed, fractures are very likely to occur. Children around 3 years old are not very good at expressing their feelings, so fractures are the most easily misdiagnosed.

2. Malignant bone tumor

Malignant bone tumor is also called bone cancer. Its causes may be related to factors such as heredity, radiation exposure, excessive bone growth, chronic inflammatory stimulation, special viral infection and poor blood return in the bone.

3. Childhood Leukemia

Leukemia ranks first in the incidence of childhood malignant tumors. The reason why it is misdiagnosed as growing pains is that the bone marrow of leukemia expands, causing the periosteum to stretch and cause bone pain, especially below the knee, and is often misdiagnosed as arthritis.

4. Juvenile arthritis

Juvenile arthritis is easily mistaken for growing pains because patients feel pain when the joints are touched. Although muscle pain is the typical symptom of growing pains, young children cannot tell the difference between muscle pain and joint pain.

5. Periostitis

For children who have a recent history of strenuous exercise and like jumping, periostitis should be ruled out.