Does anyone know why a 6 year old would complain about having pains in his legs?

[Caligula]

That's it really. DS has been complaining about having pains in his leg in the last month or so, and I can't think why. When I asked him this evening where exactly they were, it was all around his knee and halfway up and down the leg, on both sides.

I have a vague memory of having these sorts of pains when I was young and being told it was "growing pains". Was that just crazy talk? Or do these things exist?

growing pains
he will be having a spurt i expect.

You know I think they really are growing pains - but perhaps check out with the doc if the pain is really terrible.

At night in particular? Dd gets them periodicaly. I did too and was also told growing pains.

oops just read the full post.
yes growing pains really do happen.

I third the other!

I still find it hard to believe in growing pains: it sounds like an old wives tale doesn't it? But so many children complain of these pains and are otherwise fine that I suppose they must be just that.

Ok, well 5th them then!

growing pains

Great link - I can't believe growing pains are real! Still, very reassuring to find they are.

My DD is six and also get this. There was a thread a month or so ago on the subject and there were lots of others whose children also suffered with this.

When I was worried about this I worked on the basis that she never has this problem in the daytime - she skips all the way to school (20 minutes), she runs round the playground at playtime, she does ballet, she swims - all these things and her legs don't hurt then so can't be THAT bad and also I remember having them myself.

DS1 sometimes complains about this. I think it's growing pains. He hasn't had it for ages, but sometimes it can be very painful. I give Calpol and tell him to sleep it off. Don't know if that helps, haven't read the thread, watching the footie

I found that gently rubbing dd's legs helped. Calpol if it was very bad usualy did the trick

I remember having growing pains and also that my younger sister had terrible pains and the hospital said she was "outgrowing her strength". I thought that was an old wives tale!

I've read somewhere that growing pains are caused because the bones are the bits that actually do the growing, so the muscles and ligaments are being stretched when the bone grows and that is what hurts. Certainly seems to be the case in my children that it's their muscles that are aching.

Most common at night as this is when you grow! And common in the legs as these grow the quickest.

There is one thing that might be otherwise "just" growing pains that could need looking into - if your ds's pains reach up into/around his hip there is a condition perthes' disease - again to do with a child growing fast - where the head of the femur grows too fast for its blood supply. That does need a specialist, so I'd keep an eye out.

I don't want to scare you, but when ds had pains similar to your son's we were told to watch out for those sort of symptoms.

Perthes is most common in boys, it would be best for him to be checked out (if the pains don't subside) as it can cause lasting damage (don't want to scare you though). The BBC link is very good and should help you