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Media Releases
When Pain Is More Than Just Growing Pains
Columbia, Mo. (May 18, 2005) - Your pre-teen son wakes up in the middle of the night grabbing his legs, complaining of terrible pain. At the doctor's office the next day, your physician suggests the episode was a bout of growing pains. But what if the incident is a harbinger of something more ominous?
It is not unusual for preteens and teens to be diagnosed with growing pains, when their aching joints are actually caused by juvenile arthritis, a condition affecting some 285,000 children in the United States. Growing pains usually occur between the ages of 4 and 12, equally in boys and girls. Studies have shown that as many as one in five school-age children (20 percent) experience growing pains.
Diagnosing growing pains vs. a more serious rheumatic condition needs to be conducted by an experienced physician.
Here are several telltale signs that parents might find helpful as well.
Growing pains DO:
Cause deep aching and cramping pain in the thigh, shin or calf
Occur at night, often waking up the child, and are never present in the morning, which distinguishes them from rheumatic conditions, where the pain is more severe in the morning or constant throughout the day
Are usually precipitated by exercise the previous day
Growing pains DO NOT:
Cause limping
Cause pain in the lower back or groin area
Respond to massage or common pain-relievers
Cause stiffness, swelling and redness of the joints. These are symptoms usually attributed to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
To rule out rheumatic conditions, the physician should perform a thorough medical history, physical examination and consider appropriate laboratory studies.
Misdiagnosing juvenile arthritis as growing pains could be detrimental. Factors that account for delay in diagnosis include:
Failure to recognize symptoms by primary care physicians
Inadequate physical examination
Health insurance obstacles, such as complex referral mechanisms and reimbursement
A new Web site, dedicated to helping families and caregivers of children with juvenile arthritis better understand and benefit from state and federal programs and laws, is scheduled to launch this summer. The Web site, www.jahelp.missouri.edu, is a collaborative project between the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC).
For more information on juvenile arthritis, go to www.marrtc.org/conditions/juvenile.html
For more information about MARRTC and its projects, log on to www.marrtc.org
As part of the MU Health Communication Research Center (HCRC), MARRTC's mission is to become a national leader in the areas of disability management and communication, improve the quality of life and promote independent living among people who have arthritis and arthritic conditions. MARRTC's core message is "Disability is everyone's issue."
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