11yr old leg ache/ pain alot

[Keewro]

Hi,

Little advice needed about my 11 yr old daughter, ( 12 in june).

She has always suffered with growing pains from the age of 4 until prob last 18 months , she would always wake in the night in need of some paracetamol and a massage.
But for the past few month her achy legs have been during the day, not always necessarily after p.e etc, not always in the same place or leg, mainly in her shin and the bit where your ankle meets your shin at the front, never bad enough to give a limp, paracetamol and a good rub do make it go away, I'm just worried that its during the day now? But like I said it goes away, never in the same spot or same leg it seems to jump about , oh and heel pain that's a new one from the last few days.....
Now what has prompted me today is that when she was on her way out of school yesterday she said her knee just gave way for no reason, and now is painful behind her knee when she walks.
I had her laid on the sofa last night I was flexing her leg and putting it in all diff positions, the mobility in the leg is fine no pain, she can push with that leg against my hand that's fine no pain, it's just when she stands up, this morning she said it was gone, but just before setting off for school she said it started t hurt again.
One last thing she has been complaining of stomach ache lately, pretty low down so I am thinking this is just a sign her period is on it's way? As shes is already going through puberty and pretty sure this is the next step.
Now all I have mentioned above is never screaming in agony pain, its achy pain that does go away.
So i just want to know your guys opinion? Or any experiences of your own similar
Take to gp? See how it goes?

I'm sorry for the long message 😊

Google oschgood schlaters. It can be a reason for joint pain when growing.

Poor dd; growing pains are horrible. Just a thought; is she hypermobile at all? (Floppy hip joints, swayback knees, “weak” ankles that roll in or out when she walks)? Joint Hypermobility or Joint Hypermobility Syndrome can cause chronic “growing pains” that move around.

Does she do ballet/gymnastics/sports with any impact?

Oh, good call, @Ihatehashtags

Thank you for your reply! Her feet do go over for no reason quite OFTEN! please can you explain the hip and knee thing to see whether it rings a bell.
She does karate and is going in for her black belt this yr, she has not done it for the past few week tho due to us being busy.

Just took my son to physio for exactly this last week. He’s only 4 though, but symptoms were basically growing pains which have lasted a year and now come in the day as well as night.
Diagnosed he is a little bit hyper mobile, and very strong and muscular with short muscles or ligaments or something? So the flexibility mixed with the short, strong muscles mean there’s some sort of conflict there. He has a slope that he has to stand on to stretch out his muscles, basically. Exacerbated because he has visible, rapid growth spurts which some children don’t, I didn’t realise that.
Anyway it might be worth asking GP for a physio referral? Might be a minor/simple issue that can be diagnosed and eased easily.

I will also Google what was mentioned above x

Brilliant thankyiu

Google the Beighton Score for signs of joint Hypermobility

I'd ask your GP about arthritis. It could be growing pains - but tha'ts what I was told for 20 years before they finally agreed it was arthritis. Now we know I can take the right mediccation and rarely suffer.

Magnesium may help.

Thank you all so much for your replies xxx

Not clear whether you have been to your GP or are self medicating her. If you haven't been to the GP please do so. Persistent leg pain in young children and adolescents can be more than "growing pains".

My dd has similar, op

Yea I took her to the go when it was really bad in the night but just growing pains apparently. Other than leg pain that jumps from spot to spot shes super happy and healthy.
I am just reading about hyper mobility , the screen thing. I need to check a few things when I get home tonight but, I know for a fact her legs are very flexible, her feet fall to the side when walking for no reason, she can bend her fingers quite far, now my question is..... if she "was" hyper thingy, would that only cause discomfort in the lower half?

I believe hypermobility can affect certain joints while others are unaffected, so yes it could be possible it's only affecting her legs and ankles. DS has hypermobile finger joints but no real issues anywhere else, and I went to school with a girl who would now be diagnosed as having hypermobile elbows (at the time we just used to think it was cool and a bit freaky!).

Just wanted to say I recall getting horrible growing pains and the GP telling my mum I was making it up :( I hope your daughter's pain resolves xx

Thank you all again for your replies it's so good hearing other peoples experiences, I my self still remember shin pain growing up x

My eldest would have suffered from what would have been dismissed as "growing pains" by my mother, I used to have them too. After checking that there was no alternative cause for it, I found that a liquid iron supplement eased the onset of the pain. I don't think my dd has complained about the pain in six months or so. She's almost 14.

Thanks I'll look into that

Look up the RCGP's ehlos danlos/ hypermobility tool kit. Take that with you to the GP if you think there is a possibility of it being that.

Yes, JHS or Hypermobile type EDS can certainly cause pains only in the lower limbs. These can progress to arms and hands but not always.

Any easy bruising, very stretchy velvety soft skin, unexplained anxiety, poor sleep quality?

Like most chronic conditions, H-EDS is on a spectrum. Some children just have hypermobile joints, some have pain, some at the top end of the spectrum have most or all the symptoms. So please don’t panic.

Thank you

My daughter is on her brake at school and I asked her, can u bend your thumb back to your forarm? She sent me this pic

Yep, that’s one of the criteria for hypermobile joints.

My dd has full-blown hypermobile EDS; I just have/had hypermobile joints (not all though, my elbows and tops of fingers aren’t) with the chronic pain, cardiac symptoms, easy bruising and growing pains.

Even dd’s H-EDS is manageable though so if it does turn out to be JHS/H-EDS it’s nothing to panic about - for us it was nice to actually have a name and an explanation for all the symptoms she’d had since birth. 😊

I think your first stop should be GP because of course it could be a few things.