# growing pains **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313 "2004-11-23T17:43:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AsecretK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@AsecretK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AsecretK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/1 "2004-11-23T17:43:59Z")
I was talking with my BF the other day and I mentioned as a kid that I had growing pains. He looked at me like I had green teeth and purple hair and then laughed saying he had never heard of such a thing. I explained they were cramping in the legs when I was a child and my mother told me I had growing pains. I even stated that my son had them as well when he was younger. He insisted my mother had told me a lie but after doing some research I found that [growing pains](http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/growth/growing_pains.html) are a real thing and my mom had not whooshed me all those years ago. I am still shocked he had never heard of them. So have any of you had growing pains as a child or has your child(ren) had them? Just curious as I was surprised that my BF had never heard of them. BTW, he is 51. I thought it was fairly common and most people had heard of them. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/2 "2004-11-23T18:08:58Z")
I definitely remember having them. I grew pretty fast between about 3rd and 5th grade–I was 5’7" by the time I was in 6th grade. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/3 "2004-11-23T18:13:36Z")
Both of my kids have had them to some extent or another. I only sort of remember them when I grew 12 inches in one year, when I was 13. Once. In 1975. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/4 "2004-11-23T18:23:45Z")
My brother had them really bad when he was around 12-13. His legs and back would hurt so much some days that he had to take off school. I never had them. I’m 5’3", my mom is 4’11", and my dad is 5’6", but my brother is mysteriously 6’3". We don’t know where he got all that height from, but it would explain his pains. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/5 "2004-11-23T18:38:15Z")
I used to get really bad ones in my lower legs and my forearms. I’d just about cry they’d hurt so much. I remember reading that a child can grow as much as a 1/4" overnight. You figure everything else - muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and blood vessels - have to stretch and grow to accomodate that. No wonder it hurts! ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/6 "2004-11-23T18:45:14Z")
**Cher3** > [@](#): > > I grew pretty fast between about 3rd and 5th grade–I was 5’7" by the time I was in 6th grade. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I think growing quickly had a lot to do with it. I grew about a foot when I was 15 and I remember it hurting like hell. ---
**Author:** ![AsecretK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@AsecretK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AsecretK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/7 "2004-11-23T18:45:34Z")
I don’t know about them relating to height. I had them very bad. My legs would just ache and ache and I am only 5’3" on a good day and with shoes on. My son had them as bad as me and he is about 5’6" but he just turned 16 in September so he has more growing to do. My daughter did not have them at all and at 14 she is the same height as me but without the shoes 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/8 "2004-11-23T19:02:07Z")
Sure, I had a few. Not too severe but I can definitely remember shooting pains in my thighs and knees. My 4 year old gets them in her knees sometimes, almost always at night before bed. She thinks the pains themselves are growth spurts, so she’ll tell me “Mommy, I’m having another growth spurt!” ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/9 "2004-11-23T20:20:44Z")
Oh god yes. I went from 5’3 to 5’9 in grade 8 and I could barely walk. I actually used my grandma’s arthritis cream to soothe my legs they ached so badly. I don’t think most people believed me which was fine but I was devastated I couldn’t play twister since up til then I had been a master contorter. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/10 "2004-11-23T21:33:32Z")
Like **Abbie Carmichael** ’s daughter, I would get growing pains in the evening, always in the back of my knees. They were really painful. I still turned out shrimpy, though (5’1). ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/11 "2004-11-23T21:48:49Z")
[The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021129.html) : growing pains probably don’t have anything to do with growth. FWIW, with regards to the OP, I’d certainly heard of them as a little kid; my parents guessed the random pain I’d get in my ankles between about six and ten years old was either growing pains or ‘weak ankles.’ ---
**Author:** ![AsecretK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@AsecretK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AsecretK)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/12 "2004-11-24T14:35:08Z")
Thanks for finding that information from the “Master”. These posts and of course Cecil’s information will all be printed out and given to the BF so I can give a great big “I told ya so, I am not crazy and my mother did not make it up” raspberry 😛 ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/growing-pains/276313/13 "2004-11-24T15:05:40Z")
Every time my ten year old son complains that his legs or his feet hurt, I wince along with him. Not because of the physical pain (although I am sympathetic towards that), but because it means he’s going through another growth spurt. We use Advil and hot water bottles.