Leg pain 5 year old

[Teddybear18]

My son has been complaining of leg pain on and off for nearly a year. It goes away for months then comes back. It can be in both legs or one at a time. The pain isn’t bad as he carry’s on with whatever he’s doing. I’ve been to the drs and they just put it down to growing pains but as they literally looked at him my mind wasn’t put to rest. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yes, same age my daughter started complaining and it turned out to be dislocated hips

Yes - DD (5yo) regularly comments on her legs hurting. It’s even woke her during the night, it can be her knees or her shins…

I just give her some pain relief and put it down to growing pains. She’s a tall girl. Her pain is also on and off so makes sense that it would be growing pain - I imagine development/growing bones could be painful.

But if you’re not satisfied, there is nothing wrong with getting a second opinion.

My DD had this - I put it down to growing pains at the time but it was probably actually iron deficiency according to her consultant.

My DD has this. She was sent for bloods which came back clear.

This is interesting! I always wondered about DD’s iron levels as she is fussy with meats and many iron rich veggies! I did just buy Floradix for her so maybe we will see an improvement in how often DD says this too.

Something simple to try OP, to see if it helps :)

My 5 year old goes through spells of this. Mainly at night and I’ve put it down to growing pains. He’s been in agony and it’s always the same type of cry! We massage legs and give calpol. I can sometimes see his legs tensing like with cramp. He’s massively active in the day so I am not surprised and he’s also very tall! I worried at first but it’s been two years now and he can go months without pain so I assume that’s all it is.

Before bed now every night we make him stand on his tiptoes whilst holding on to something… right up to the tips of his toes and down again 20 times. It seems to help! Also we massage legs before bed sometimes if he’s been really active.

I have vivid memories of this pain a kid. I was told my bones grew too fast and the muscles didn’t catch up as quickly. Looking back I probably was low in iron and other vitamins as I was a fussy eater. It use to really hurt when laid in bed.

My 8yo has had similar issues. We found a children's physio helpful. Turned out her hip joint shape made it painful to sit cross legged and she was a bit hypermobile which left her more vulnerable to injury. She did lots of exercises to strengthen the muscles to help hold her joints in the right places.

And now always sits on a chair in school, never on the floor or the carpet. She also a block to put her feet on so she is in the right position when seated at the school tables.

My 7 year old regularly complains of leg pains in and off. Doctor said nothing is wrong. I’m hypermobile and probably is too