# Four year old waking up with leg pain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849 "2004-03-23T04:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/21 "2004-03-24T02:55:25Z")
I can’t believe all the people who have gone through these weird leg pains! I thought I was just a freak when I had them pretty bad on and off when I was little. My mother or father would sit down and put all their weight on my calfs/knees and that would usually help out after a few minutes. Man-- for all those “growing pains” I had— I sure didn’t grow that much (I’m 5’9"). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/22 "2004-03-24T03:54:13Z")
I seriously, very seriously doubt that these are “growing pains”. I had them the worst when I was a kid when I was growing the least. They went away during my real growth spurt. I still get them ocassionally and I am certainly not growing now! 4 year olds are highly unlikely to have “growing pains”. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/23 "2004-03-24T04:31:10Z")
My daughter had the same thing, starting when she was three.The doctor diagnosed them as growing pains.She had them until she was about 8 or 9. Four years old is not to young to have growing pains **ftg** ,still it is a great idea to see the doctor.You can see just from the responses here that leg pain is a really common thing in young children ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/24 "2004-03-24T04:42:14Z")
It’s very comforting to hear so many people have had experience with this sort of pain as children or with their own children. However, I regretfully have to temper some posters even though their anecdotes are so well-meaning. Just for future reference, adult pain that is normal/common/non-serious is not necessarily assurance that a child’s pain in the same area is normal. Back pain is one example. Back pain in adults can be many innocuous things–lifted something wrong, slept weird, etc. Back pain in small children is rare (amazing, isn’t it, given the ways they sleep!?!) and requires a checkup with a doc. Laughing, it sounds like you’re on target having it looked at at the next appointment. Sounds like it’s not too uncommon in other kids. Sending good thoughts your way. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/25 "2004-03-24T08:34:24Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I seriously, very seriously doubt that these are “growing pains”…4 year olds are highly unlikely to have “growing pains”. FTG, do you have any children? Will you retract this if you ever have children, and they have ungodly pain in their legs at the age of 3, 4 or 5 that wakes them (and you) wailing and shrieking, and you go to your doctor and the doctor says “It’s just growing pains”? Which btw is exactly what my daughter’s doctor said when we took the kid in for the very same problem: waking shrieking at night, screaming that her leg hurt. Always the same leg. Always the same place. This would be about the same time she grew an inch taller than her twin. The doctor recommended Tylenol. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/26 "2004-03-24T11:11:29Z")
> [@I Love Me](#): > > Man-- for all those “growing pains” I had— I sure didn’t grow that much (I’m 5’9"). You did better then me, I’m 5’2"! ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/27 "2004-03-24T11:59:23Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I had them the worst when I was a kid when I was growing the least. They went away during my real growth spurt. Some people think that this type of pain occurs when bone is growing _unevenly_ (i.e. one side faster than the other side) rather than quickly. Uneven bone growth would cause distortion and compression of the bone, resulting in pain until it evens out. This could occur during fast **or** slow growth. > [@ftg](#): > > I still get them ocassionally and I am certainly not growing now! Bone does grow in adults, largely in response to physical stresses. If you start to work out, or even just walk farther in one day than you normally do, your bones respond by beefing up overall density and enlarging the contact points that your muscles attach to. If you revert to lower activity levels, it all goes away. Bones are actually fairly dynamic. mischievous ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/28 "2004-03-24T12:14:07Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > If this thread showed anything, it is that it’s hardly an unusual symptom. > … Neither is colic type symptoms in an infant, but our primary care physicians were no help at all there. We had a child who wasn’t gaining weight, never slept for more than a couple of hours at a stretch even at six months, regurgitated constantly and spent a good bit of his waking hours screaming and writhing in agony. The primary care pediatricians would say “It’s colic. Go home.” It required two emergency room hospitalizations and a consultation by the attending gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston (My hero!: “We’re not letting you leave here until we figure out what is causing this!”) to diagnose colitis caused by sensitivity to dairy. Two weeks of a modified diet and my son was sleeping for hours at a stretch, and putting on weight. Maybe “unusual” isn’t the right word, “mysterious” maybe? “Unexplained”? **mischievous** thanks for the tip on the cramped muscles, I never thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/29 "2004-03-24T12:45:13Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan_ > However, I regretfully have to temper some posters even though their anecdotes are so well-meaning. Just for future reference, adult pain that is normal/common/non-serious is not necessarily assurance that a child’s pain in the same area is normal. I don’t think anyone here is saying for **Laughing** not to take the Little Lagomorph to the doctor. I think they’re just saying “this is pretty common, and in all likelihood it’s nothing serious, and here are some things you can try until the doctors’ appointment”. In that vein. . .I have a 12-year-old who, from about age 3 until probably about 2 or 3 years ago, would wake up with terrible leg pain in the night. Doctor said it was growing pains. We gave her Tylenol, and that would help enough to get her back to sleep. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by I Love Me Vol I_ > Man-- for all those “growing pains” I had— I sure didn’t grow that much (I’m 5’9"). Yes, but presumably you’re quite a bit taller than you were at age four, no? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/30 "2004-03-24T14:40:54Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I don’t think anyone here is saying for **Laughing** not to take the Little Lagomorph to the doctor. I think they’re just saying “this is pretty common, and in all likelihood it’s nothing serious, and here are some things you can try until the doctors’ appointment”. In that vein. . .I have a 12-year-old who, from about age 3 until probably about 2 or 3 years ago, would wake up with terrible leg pain in the night. Doctor said it was growing pains. We gave her Tylenol, and that would help enough to get her back to sleep. To clarify (and hopefully nor belabor) the point, comments like yours were genuinely helpful because you shared anecdotes about children, not adults, who have had similar pain. My concern, maybe not just for Lagomorph but for other parents who are reading (and for posters in this thread who like to give helpful advice to parents by giving off the cuff examples), is that you can’t apply _adult_ anecdotes to children’s bodies, even for stuff that seems straightforward. Unless I read them wrong, at least a few posters said, in essence, “Yeah, I (an adult or teen) get that and it’s normal.” The fact that normal adult gripes like backaches and headaches aren’t normal kid things was news to me when my son had some body pain, and I’m just being (perhaps overly) cautious in passing it along. I probably am coming off as a ninny. You’re right that Lagamorph isn’t going to decide to not ask the doc about it. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/31 "2004-03-24T15:04:21Z")
**Cranky** , Okay, now I see your concern. It’s a good point. Having said that, you _are_ being a ninny, but that’s okay; we’re used to that from you 😛 ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/32 "2004-03-24T16:24:41Z")
> [@mischievous](#): > > Bone does grow in adults, largely in response to physical stresses. If you start to work out, or even just walk farther in one day than you normally do, your bones respond by beefing up overall density and enlarging the contact points that your muscles attach to. If you revert to lower activity levels, it all goes away. Bones are actually fairly dynamic. > > mischievous This is sort of off topic, but yes bone does grow. A TV show I saw about 20 years ago addressed this subject, among others. An X-ray examination of LA Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton (I think) showed that the bones in his pitching arm were quite a bit larger in diameter than the bones in the other arm. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/33 "2004-03-26T03:17:40Z")
> [@Chotii](#): > > FTG, do you have any children? Will you retract this if you ever have children, and they have ungodly pain in their legs at the age of 3, 4 or 5 that wakes them (and you) wailing and shrieking, and you go to your doctor and the doctor says “It’s just growing pains”? > > Which btw is exactly what my daughter’s doctor said when we took the kid in for the very same problem: waking shrieking at night, screaming that her leg hurt. Always the same leg. Always the same place. This would be about the same time she grew an inch taller than her twin. > > The doctor recommended Tylenol. Just wanted to update everyone…our experience with the doctor turned out to be the same as **Chotii** described above. The doc said “growing pains” (which I think is a medical term meaning “I honestly don’t know”) and recommended ibuprofen. I sure as hell hope this doesn’t continue for nine years like it did for **norinew**. Interestingly the Little Lagomorph is now close to the 50th percentile for height for his age, where he used to be down around the 5th percentile a few years back. Hmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/34 "2004-03-26T06:35:18Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > Just wanted to update everyone…our experience with the doctor turned out to be the same as > **Chotii** described above. The doc said “growing pains” (which I think is a medical term meaning “I honestly don’t know”) and recommended ibuprofen. I do highly recommend the ‘rice pack’ honestly. I get very nervous about giving the kids some sort of medicine for every ache and pain, even when it’s a legitimate ache and pain. When other things work (like a hot pack), it sends the message that it’s possible to address discomforts and unhappinesses with other things than drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/35 "2004-03-26T07:51:30Z")
I have had these my whole life (I’m 20). Ever since I can remember, I’ve occasionally had such bad pain in my right thigh that I could hardly bear to stand or walk. It, like **TellMeI’mNotCrazy** ’s pain felt sort of like it was in the bone itself. I went to the doctor a few times for it, and they never could figure it out. Recently, and very likely unrelated but not altogether impossible, I was experiencing severe pain in my left hip, had it MRI’ed, and was diagnosed with two bulging and arthritic discs in my lower back. Not to use scare tactics or anything, and I’m still waiting to hear the specifics of that diagnosis, but it makes sense to me… ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/36 "2004-03-26T08:37:43Z")
Our eight-year old daughter has suffered with these leg pains for the last three years. The attacks are sporadic, sometimes she’ll go a month or two with no problem, other times she’ll have two or three attacks a week. They always occur at night, no problems at all by day. We’ve taken her to the doctor a few times and she told us that the trouble has all the indicators of ‘growing pains’: pain only occurs at night, no swelling or redness of the legs, pain lasts at the most five or ten minutes, relieved by massage. Checking on the net, this seems to be a not uncommon complaint in young children. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/37 "2004-03-26T12:32:06Z")
[quote] _Originally posted by Laughing Lagamorph_ I sure as hell hope this doesn’t continue for nine years like it did for norinew. [quote] It might last for years, but it got easier as she got older. For one thing, it _was_ sporadic; not like she was waking us up every night. For another thing, she got old enough to help us deal with it. She would come into our room and ask for her Tylenol, doses of which we began keeping in our room. That way, she could take the Tylenol and go right back to bed, without one of us having to get up with her. **chotii’s** rice packs sound good, too. I can remember my mom doing something similar for ear aches where we were little, but she put salt in the sock, not rice. Same idea, though. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/38 "2004-03-26T18:14:27Z")
C’mon folks, _read_ the post _before_ you start complaining. In particular, **Chotii** : What is your problem??? I _was_ that 4 year old in agonizing pain at night! **Read my post!** If you are a reasonable person, I will be expecting an apology from _you_! Doctor’s don’t know a lot of stuff. Saying “growing pains” is just a brush off expression. It could be a lot of things. In my case, I got an accurate diagnosis of tight tendons. Other people might have problems with calcium, or dozens of other real conditions. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/39 "2004-03-26T19:26:00Z")
Um, **ftg** , I read your posts. You said, if I may paraphrase: _(1) You had leg pain as a child. It was misdiagnosed as growing pains, but turned out to be tight tendons._ Fair enough, but many, many other people have come in to say that they had growing pains as children, and the symptoms were very similar to those reported by **Lagomorph**. _(2) Despite the above reports, you don’t think it likely that four year olds get growing pains._ So all the other Dopers are making it up? _(3) Your reasoning for this is that your pain did not coincide with your growth spurt, and still continues as an adult._ Well, as I and other Dopers pointed out, bone growth happens at odd times and continues during adulthood. Besides, if your pain was not growing pains - but instead tight tendons - then there is no reason for it to happen only during growth periods. I’m glad you posted an alternative diagnosis - knowing the possiblities helps others to ask the right questions when seeing a doctor. However, the bulk of the evidence suggests that children do get growing pains and sometimes parents just have to deal with them. Your reasoning that **Lagomorph’s** child does not have growing pains seems limited to the fact that you did not - and the inference that such things do not exist. I don’t think that **Chotii** was out of line for getting a bit frustrated, although she might have phrased it more tactfully. Like I said, it’s good to know that there are other possible causes, but if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and the doctor says it’s a duck, then I’m voting for growing pains. mischievous ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849/40 "2004-03-27T02:47:21Z")
Virtually all small children undergo really amazing growth. Many people forget this and just think of teenagers. But … Only a small number will experience the pain described in the OP. Ergo, if “growing pains” is such a medically sound diagnosis, then why don’t virtually all children experience them??? I think that’s an awfully darn important thing to remember. “Growing pains” especially for that age _and for adults_ is a throw away expression. If that’s what the doctor tells you, go see another doctor instead. There is probably a _real_ medical condition underlying this that _must and should be treated_. I have yet to hear anyone suggest a treatment for “growing pains” other than “ignore the kid’s pain for a few years”. Note that last phrase: That’s the exact opposite of my view and yet somehow some “people” decided that was my view. Sheesh and then some. I am still awaiting an apology. No question about it. Now we have **mischievous** telling me what I didn’t say. No one ever diagnosed me with “growing pains”. No one. The doctor diagnosed tight tendons. C’mon folks, read the posts! It’ll save a lot of “pain”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-waking-up-with-leg-pain/235849.md?page=3)