Any experience with childhood tics?

[njshep]

My 9 year old son has recently begun constantly flicking his head back almost as though he needs get hair out his face. We first thought it became a bad habit after he had his hair longer throughout covid and he needed to do it to get it out of his face but now his hair is short and it continues. He does this several times within a span of 10 minutes and I feel like it has recently gotten worse.
We brought him into a dr who is going to run a neck X-ray but also suggested it might be a tic.
I am worried sick. He is a well adjusted, happy and super athletic child and the thought of him struggling with this is so upsetting. It really started to amplify when the kids here ( I live in Canada) had to roll back to remote learning in early April as the covid situation started becoming serious again.
Does anyone have any experience with childhood tics they can share? It is so prevalent right now I can’t see how this might disappear.
Very stressed.
Any help or insight would be appreciated.

Tics are really common in children and normally don't last long. Can become worse when tired, stressed, processing a new experience. I'd imagine at the moment far more children experiencing than in before times.
If your child is upset by it or it is affecting their life negatively day to day I'd seek a referral for support, but if not I'd try not to worry.

We’ve experienced this with DS2. First when he was around 4, he used to sort of gurn and pull faces. It just stopped over time. Then when he was around 10 it started up this time he would open his eyes really wide and tilt his head. It would come and go, usually towards the end of a school term when he’s particularly tired or stressed (he doesn’t find school easy). Funnily enough he hasn’t done it since we locked down last March. I think the break from school really helped.
I try to make sure he gets lots of down time and if he is seeming stressed I will occasionally give him a day off school (usually once a half term as he’s never ill) to just recharge.
We never draw attention to it when it does happen

www.nhs.uk/conditions/tics/

NHS advice.

Hi my son is 7 and has had tics since he was 4. I find he gets them whilst being anxious or to to do with any changes plus sudden changes aswell. It breaks my heart when he g as them and a cuddle him reassure say to him about expressing his feelings which he does but sometimes he asks to speak to me privately.its hard going as it's worry so in my advice give hugs cwtch up and let them talk chat etc and ignore the tics as they are aware of them an can get embarrassed by them😥

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am really hoping that it resolves and is attributed to so many changes.

My dd used to go through periods of having a (minor) tic. Some sort of throat clearing sound. She’s now 13 and very occasionally I can still hear it, but she’s mainly grown out of it.
I once checked it with a GP and he advised to ignore it and let it run its course. As he predicted, it is almost disappeared.
She’s always been aware of it and calls it her ‘habit’. During times it was worse, I tried to spend a bit extra time with her and made sure she had plenty of opportunity to chat with us in case something was bothering her. And plenty of sleep too.