Complaints & connections · borters.ch
At night in the legs, forgotten by day — harmless, even if the name is misleading.
Also known as: growing pains · leg pains in children
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Growing pains are a common and harmless phenomenon in children, mostly at pre-school and primary-school age. Typical are pulling or cramping pains in both legs — especially calves, shins or behind the knees — that mainly occur in the evening or at night and are gone again the next morning. During the day the child walks and plays completely normally. Despite the name, it could not be shown that growth itself hurts; the load of an active day is thought to play a role. Reassuringly, growing pains leave no damage and disappear over the years. Pay attention if the pain affects only one leg, stays in one spot, comes with swelling, redness, limping, fever or weight loss, or continues during the day — that should be checked.
Gentle massage, warmth and comfort ease and calm the child.
Knowing it’s harmless and passes takes the worry from parent and child.
Briefly noting when and where it hurts helps with classification.
With one-sided, persistent or atypical pain plus warning signs.
About ten to thirty out of a hundred children between three and twelve are affected. The pain sits on both sides in calves, thighs or behind the knees, comes in the evening or at night and is gone by morning — that pattern is the identifying mark. One-sided pain, morning pain, limping, swelling or fever do not belong to it and are investigated. The episodes stop by themselves over the years.
Paracetamol or ibuprofen in the evening takes the pain away for the night — they change nothing about the course, and it needs no changing, because the episodes stop by themselves. Magnesium and vitamin D work only if they are lacking. What helped in studies is simple: massaging the legs and warmth in the evening, plus stretching the calf and thigh muscles over weeks. With one-sided pain, limping or morning pain, it is not growing pains.
Mostly at pre-/primary-school age; without lasting effects.
Pulling in calves/shins, gone by morning; normal during the day.
A link with growing could not be shown; what is observed is rather the day’s activity.
One leg only, a fixed spot, swelling, limping, fever → doctor.
The most important value — not because of growing pains but because of the exceptions. Bone pain at night with pallor, bruises, fever or swollen lymph nodes belongs checked at once.
Growing pains produce no inflammatory values. If they are raised, something else is going on — a joint, a bone or an infection.
Supplements the CRP when the complaints last for weeks or a joint is swollen.
A marked shortage causes genuine bone pain and muscle weakness. It is the commonest correctable cause in this age group.
Without vitamin D only a fraction of the calcium from food is taken up. It is the value that is most often too low with bone and joint complaints.
The building material itself. Better from food than from a tin: hard cheese, yoghurt, calcium-rich mineral water, almonds, broccoli and fortified plant drinks.
Activates the proteins that build calcium into bone. Green leafy vegetables and fermented foods cover it — under coumarin blood thinning the amount stays steady rather than swinging.
Bone is a third protein scaffold, and the muscles that hold it need protein too. In older people too little protein is more common than too little calcium.
Needed for building calcium in and for vitamin D to work. A lack slows both — even when calcium and vitamin D are supplied in sufficient amounts.
In children with night-time leg pain a low level was found more often, and a small study reported less pain after topping up. In a child the amount follows age and weight.
Often given, but not studied for it. What helped in studies was stretching in the evening — and the reassurance that these pains come on both sides, in the evening and without limping.
Growth hormone is released mainly in deep sleep, and the complaints come in the evening and at night. The link suggests itself — it is not established, and growing bone demonstrably does not hurt.
In children with night-time leg pain a low vitamin D level was found more often. That is the one point that can be measured and fixed — the rest is reassurance and stretching.
Children between 4 and 12 need 800–1000 mg calcium a day. A link with growing pains is not established — a deficiency deserves attention anyway, since bone is being built in this time.
Gentle stroking of the legs in the evening soothes many children. In a small study massage did better than stretching — attention that also works.
A hot water bottle on the aching calf is the most common home remedy and does no harm. Growing pains come in the evening and are gone by morning — what hurts during the day belongs looked at.