I suffered severe growing pains as a child. As an adult, I woke up to hear my poor daughter just sobbing. My mom, a registered nurse, was a godsend. She said my daughters leg bones were growing at such a rapid rate, her leg muscles could not keep up. During the day, her active little body kept the muscles warmed up and conditioned. At night when a childs body gets its much needed rest, her leg muscles were kept stretched at max and had no problem objecting, loudly. So we decided to try calcium pills with vitamin D to help her body absorb the calcium. All the telivision miracle cures could not hold a candle to this miracle. Half a vitamin when she was little and by day 2, she was back to sleeping soundly. Not sure who was happier the following morning, me or her. We even had to call Nana before school and say thank you " cause her legs werent being mean any more". I could care less about the medical egos, published power plays, or anyones Phd (piled higher and deeper). The pain is quite real. For some strange reason, the childs height increases at the same time of the “nothing to do with growth” growing pains. Yes, children grow at different rates. However, if the muscles decide not to keep up at the same rate as the bones and your child is sobbing, are you going to say its just a phase to your child?
Welcome to the SDMB, mikkig.
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No-one is saying the pain was not real. Cecil was merely doubting it was caused by growth as such, or at least saying there’s no particular proof it was so.
What was it, do you think, about the calcium supplements that helped? Your theory that bones were growing faster than muscles, apart from being rather unlikely (bones being slower to grow than muscle tissue), would seem to contradict this - if anything you’d think a calcium supplement would make bones, not muscles, grow faster.
Also, why do you think it is that (as Cecil states) growing pains usually occur between the ages of 4-12 despite growth being faster before and after that age range?