We don't actually know what 'growing pains' are

The person is Grace Wade.

The term "growing pains" refers to sore limbs in children. It is the most common cause of pain in adolescents. More than one-third of children are affected by it.

There is no definition of what growing pains are. They might not be related to growth at all. According to a recent analysis of studies about growing pains, the majority of papers don't mention the symptoms of bone or muscle pain.

Children and teens are being told they have growing pains, but that is not true according to the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. When a child is diagnosed with growing pains, they are told that the pain will go away with age and that they can take drugs to manage it.

Sound evidence is needed for a health professional to give a diagnosis. We don't know if growing is the cause or not.

She was worried that the catch-all diagnosis could lead doctors to overlook other conditions that warrants further investigation. In order to learn more, she and her colleagues combed through medical research to find studies that mentioned growth or growing pains. They compared how each growing pains were defined based on eight characteristics of pain: type, location, duration, severity, age of onset, and physical examination.

There were contradictions in several areas. 14 per cent of studies claimed that growing pains are persistent while 5 per cent said they are not. Only seven studies said that the condition is caused by growth, one said that the pain occurs mainly at the end of growth spurts, and two said that the pains had nothing to do with growth.

50 per cent of studies concluded that growing pains mostly affect the legs, the closest the research came to consensus. The arms, back, groin, and shoulders were identified as the primary pain locations.

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This diagnosis is meaningless due to the many contradictions.

"If I were a doctor, I would stop using the term with children and their parents as it doesn't seem to serve a purpose." A better understanding of pain in children and teens is needed.

The journal was published in the year 2020.

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