Often, during a consultation with a pediatrician, parents ask the following question: why does the child’s leg hurt? For many years, pediatricians have been diagnosing this symptom. The conclusion of their study was the fact that foot disease is not a rare phenomenon. Many children between the ages of 2 and 11 have pain in either one or both legs.
Often children cry at night due to severe pain in the leg. Mild pain begins in the evening and intensifies at night so that the child cannot sleep from pain. There is a medical explanation for this - the child is growing, and his legs are experiencing rapid growth. Therefore, the pain causes him discomfort.
During the day, blood circulates intensively in the child’s legs and active metabolism occurs. And at night, the child’s tone of arterial and venous vessels decreases. This is precisely why blood flow in rapidly developing limbs slows down. As a result, the child feels pain.
Therefore, children are familiar with the so-called twisting pain. For some children it continues until the age of 12, while for others it goes away only at the age of 17, at the very end of school.
What can you do if your child’s leg starts to hurt? Sometimes it is enough to just stroke or lightly massage the child’s sore leg, after which, as a rule, the pain subsides and the child falls asleep. This action increases blood flow to the muscles.
In addition, children have pain in their legs due to the disease
In this case, only contacting a surgeon and diagnosing the underlying disease will help.
Be that as it may, it is important to examine the child in a timely manner, paying attention not only to the children’s feet, but also to the general condition of the child:
Parents should be especially attentive to the well-being of their children. It is important to try to record the time when the child most often experiences pain in the legs, and then, together with specialists, try to identify and eliminate the source of pain, which can also be caused by:
To diagnose the disease, it is important to tell your child’s doctor all the symptoms and take all the tests necessary for the study. In this case, only a doctor can answer the question of why the child’s leg hurts. After all, everything in the body is interconnected.
© Author: therapist Elena Dmitrenko
Foot pain is a very common symptom of the ottopedic spectrum of functional disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Every second person who turns to an orthopedist complains about this particular condition with localization of unpleasant sensations in the foot.
Below, the most common causes of foot pain will be listed.
This type of pain is usually divided into limited to a certain area, as well as diffuse - when the syndrome covers the entire area of the above-mentioned part of the body. Since walking puts additional stress on the foot, pain with no clinical picture of obvious damage can be caused by osteoporosis, prolonged bed rest in the absence of loads, or problems with the ligamentous-muscular system. Sometimes the cause of this condition may be organic lesions of the vascular system in the leg.
Most often, the cause of acute pain in the toes is gout - an acutely negative metabolic disorder in which the amount of salts in the blood sharply increases, which begin to be actively deposited in the joints of the legs. In this case, pain most often haunts the patient at night, but in particularly advanced cases it is possible during the daytime. Arthrosis and arthritis also cause pain in the fingers, and less commonly, bursitis and tendinitis.
This type of symptom almost certainly indicates that you have flat feet of one form or another. In this case, it is necessary not only to select new suitable shoes, but also to contact an orthopedist for additional recommendations. An additional inducing factor here is considered to be excess weight, which creates the preconditions for increasing the load on the musculoskeletal system and can provoke the development of diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Pain in the foot under the toes usually indicates physiological problems, hyperextensions, the presence of corns and other factors that provide discomfort in the process of life.
You need to pay special attention to this symptom in your baby. Until the age of 16, the entire musculoskeletal system of a child grows and develops rapidly, so even the slightest failure of this process can lead to serious consequences in the future.
Most often, this symptom accompanies flat feet or any other orthopedic pathology. An equally dangerous factor may be a disturbance in the formation of arterial-venous vessels in the leg and pathologies in the development of the hip joints.
Sometimes pain can even be caused by infectious foci in other parts of the body - in particular, sinusitis, tonsillitis, caries, as well as ossalgia in children with pronounced hypotonic dystonia. In rare cases, the cause of foot pain in children is congenital defects of connective tissues in the legs, scoliosis, and varicose veins. In any case, if a symptom occurs in your child, immediately seek qualified medical help!
The first step on the path to recovery is an examination by a professional orthopedist, who, based on external signs, can outline the range of possible causes for the formation of the symptom. If necessary, patients are prescribed X-rays of the feet, as well as MRI/CT scans of bone tissue, tendons and ligaments. Based on the results of this type of analysis based on the initial examination and previous medical history, the doctor can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the necessary treatment.
Depending on the cause of the symptoms described above, the orthopedic doctor prescribes appropriate medication and physiotherapeutic treatment. In particular, corticosteroids, a wide range of antibiotics, antiviral and antifungal drugs are usually used. In addition, as an additional therapy, it is always recommended to undergo exercise therapy complexes aimed at improving the strength, flexibility and functionality of the muscles, blood vessels and capillaries of the ankle.
An alternative form of treatment is shock wave therapy, as well as magnetic resonance manipulation, aimed at restoring the functionality of the foot and eliminating symptomatic pain. It is mandatory to wear properly selected orthopedic shoes, compensators in the form of insoles, and special orthoses. In some cases, conservative and alternative medicine is not effective, so then only direct surgical intervention remains, especially in cases of severe injuries and acquired diseases.
Many diseases lead to painful sensations in the legs of children of different ages. What should parents do in this situation? It is important to promptly pay attention to the child’s complaints when he says that he has pain in the lower extremities. You must carefully monitor your baby’s condition, ask where exactly the discomfort is localized. This way you can prevent serious complications and identify pathology when it is just developing.
Quite often, unpleasant sensations are a consequence of bruises and sprains that occur when a child plays active games. Severe pain and swelling should not be ignored; be sure to have your child examined by a doctor.
Many children complain of painful sensations in their legs in the evening. Most likely, the pain is the result of stretching and growth of bone and muscle tissue.
The child should be carefully examined in case of swelling and severe joint pain. Perhaps the symptom is provoked by serious orthopedic pathologies - deviations in the pelvis, spine, feet, heart. Consult your doctor immediately if you suspect a fracture or injury in your child. Typically in this situation, the child begins to limp, the joints become very inflamed and red.
Parents should understand that during the child’s growth, the vascular system, which is responsible for nourishing the muscles and bones, especially works. Children grow very quickly, so all their metabolic processes increase. The fastest growing area is the foot and lower leg. In these places, blood actively flows through the vessels, but the small fibers do not have enough elasticity.
As a rule, in children, blood circulates well during the day, during which time bones grow. At night, blood flow begins to decrease noticeably, causing pain. What to do? How to help a child? Give a little massage, so the pain will quickly go away.
Unpleasant pain can be the result of congenital pathology - flat feet, scoliosis, poor posture. All of these diseases change the center of gravity of the body. Most often, one leg hurts more.
Pain in the legs can be accompanied by the following diseases:
Acute knee pain may indicate Schlatter's disease. Most often, the pathology develops in adolescence, when the child is actively involved in sports.
Children over 3 years of age often complain of pain in the calf muscles. Such symptoms indicate a lack of calcium and phosphorus in the bones and that the substances are poorly absorbed.
Attention! Leg pain in children can be a sign of serious endocrine diseases. Quite often, diabetes mellitus indicates problems with the thyroid gland and adrenal glands.
Some serious diseases of the vascular, cardiac and blood systems also manifest themselves in the form of severe pain in the legs. Unpleasant sensations arise due to reduced blood flow in the lower extremities.
Sometimes pain is a consequence of congenital underdevelopment of connective tissues. In this case, flat feet, scoliosis, varicose veins, and renal prolapse begin to develop. It is important to pay attention to pain that is accompanied by shooting in the joint and a sharp deterioration in well-being in the morning. These symptoms indicate leukemia.
Recently, painful sensations in the legs of children have been provoked by ossalgia; it is often accompanied by dystonia and is disturbing at night. Periodically, the child experiences discomfort in the heart and abdomen. The child also suffers from severe headaches and sleep disturbances.
Have you noticed that your child’s joint has become red and very swollen? In this case, you need to get tested because the symptom may indicate a serious infection. If measures are not taken in a timely manner, septic arthritis will begin to develop, which is dangerous for the child’s life. If treatment is not timely, the joint is completely damaged and irreversible processes begin.
When you notice that a child is limping, remember if he has experienced stress or violent emotions. Pay close attention to your child's mood. Did the child rest and feel no better? Pay attention to your shoes, they may be uncomfortable. Also carefully examine your fingers to see if they are inflamed.
You must carefully monitor your child in order to promptly identify and prevent complications of various pathologies.
Unpleasant sensations in the heel area indicate a sprained Achilles tendon. Is there pain in the middle of your foot? Most likely, the child has a disease of the arch of the foot.
When pain in the thumb constantly bothers you, you can suspect an inflammatory process of the skin of the finger. It is quite common for a child to develop water calluses. If they begin to crack, unbearable pain occurs.
If your child complains of discomfort in the lower extremities, pay attention to other symptoms:
When pain is caused by the child's rapid growth, take care of nutrition. The diet should contain enough protein foods, as well as foods rich in calcium.
Leg pain is dangerous and indicates a serious orthopedic pathology. If the disease is advanced, the child may remain disabled, so carefully monitor his well-being.
Therefore, a child's complaints of pain in the lower extremities should be taken seriously. Indeed, the pain may not be dangerous and indicates the child’s growth. Despite this, in medicine there are cases where pain is the first sign of the development of a serious pathology. With timely treatment, children recover quickly. Also, do not forget that the child jumps and runs, so pain may indicate a sprain or injury. If you suspect something is wrong, it is better to play it safe and consult a doctor.