Sore legs - real or just faking?

[Wallace]

Dd (3.5) seems to hate walking. When we start walking anywhere she grabs her legs and goes "Owwww" and starts to complain that her legs hurt and she can't walk. I try not to pick her up, and make her walk but she limps along complaining about the pain. Other times I just pick her up! Is she doing this because she can't be bothered walking (and knows she will probably be carried) or is she actually in pain? She isn't always like this and will sometimes run about of her own accord.
Very occasionally she wakes up in the night screaming that her leg hurts and it takes quite a lot to calm her - she doesn't want to even be touched let alone cuddled. Calpol usually does the trick! This doesn't happen often though - maybe only every few months, but when it does happen it goes on for some nights.

So is she really in pain, or is she just a good actress?

I had sore legs right through childhood. Very achey, they would get worse if I was tense and I regularly woke up in the night with leg pain. I still get it a bit but now I'm older I can take myself seriously and go to the doctors!

Mine is basically connected to my lower back and I have some exercises to do if it gets bad.

I would also want to rule out it being anything to do with her feet.

Yes, basically we wanted to rule out anything serious, such as cancer. If in doubt, check it out.

I used to have pains in my legs at night when I was a child. My dd gets them as well. I rub her legs and give her some calpol and that seems to do the trick