Re: What causes growing pains? Why?

Hi Teresa,
My apologies for not answering sooner. Somehow I lost track of the request
in my e-mail.

Growing pains are real. They happen to young people when their growth rate
is particularly fast, and they usually cause soreness or tenderness around
the joints, especially the knees, though other places can be affected. I
grew pretty fast in my early teen years, and I remember discomfort in my
own knees.



To understand the cause, picture what's going on in a growing joint. You
have bones growing longer, and the bones are attached to tendons, muscles,
and a kind of capsule around the joint. All these have to stretch out to
accommodate the longer bones. It's this stretching of the tissues attached
to the bones that causes the discomfort. In a way, it?s a little like a
mild sprain -  the same tissues get a little inflamed and tender. The cold
can add an extra level of stiffness and make things even more tender. If
the pains are really severe, a doctor may advise the use of
anti-inflammatory medicine, but usually they get better by themselves once
the "soft tissues" adapt to the new bone lengths. Almost any library will
have an "Atlas" of anatomy, with illustrations showing the tissues of the
joints. You can see all the tendons, bones, ligaments, and muscles in the
knee, and imagine what's happening as they stretch to fit your new bone
length. No wonder it sometimes gets a little sore. Hope this helps, and
again, my apologies for not answering sooner.

Paul Odgren, Ph.D.
Dept. of Cell Biology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Worcester