Growing Pains in Children
How to Ease Pain Associated With Growth Spurts
Does your child complain about leg pains? Growing pains in children are often ignored and untreated but there is an all-natural solution to eliminate your child’s discomfort.
What Are Growing Pains?
For many children, growing pains are most experienced at night. Your child may wake up in tears in the middle of the night and complain about leg pains without any apparent reason. Most times, the pain disappears by morning but may come back in the afternoon or late in the evening. Growing pains are caused by tendons not growing as quickly as the attached bones, which puts the respective muscles under stress.
If your child is old enough to pinpoint the pain, it may be described as an ache or throb in the legs, mostly behind the knees or in the front of the thighs and calves. Growing pains can start as infant growth spurts but are most frequent between 2 to 12 years of age. Some believe they are most common in girls than in boys. They normally disappear by adulthood.
Growing Pain Relief with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Dr. Lu offers pain relief when children experience painful growth spurts, growing pains or other joint pain. In fact, acupuncture, acupressure and herbal therapy are all very useful in treating various joint pains and musculo-skeletal disorders such as arthritis, bursitis, fibrositis, injured joints, etc.
TCM diagnoses for growing pains are very different from those you would receive from a Western doctor. Acupuncturists and other TCM practitioners will examine the patient and categorize the pain based on a excessive or deficient condition as well as wind, heat, cold, damp or phlegm. These concepts are part of the intricate complexities of Chinese medicine and relate to Qi, Blood and Organs.
Growing Pain Treatments with TCM
Dr. Lu will meet with you and your child and complete her TCM diagnosis to determine what imbalance is causing the pain. She will then offer a personalized treatment based on your child’s condition and age. The parent is asked to stay with the child during the examination and treatments if the child is under 12 years old.
For young children, Dr. Lu normally treats growing pains with a combination of acupressure and herbal tea. For older children, acupuncture and herbal tea are normally used. Therapeutic massages can sometimes be used, depending on the child’s exact problem.
The effects of acupressure and acupuncture on pain are heavily documented and well recognized throughout the world. Acupressure is a great alternative for children who may be scared of needles. During an acupressure treatment, finger pressure is used to energize specific acupuncture points.
Best of all, acupuncture, acupressure, massages and herbal therapy are 100% natural and will not cause side effects.
You can ease your child’s growing pains. Contact Dr. Lu to book a consultation today.