Take the “ouch” out of growing pains
by Dr. Cutting
If your child is waking you up at night, crying because of the pain in his or her legs, you probably feel like you’d do anything to conquer the agony that your child is going through.
Growing pains can occur in the arms, but they’re most often found in the legs and they tend to cause the most discomfort in the middle of the night. I recall being awakened by the dull ache of growing pains many times between the ages of 11 and 13, and if you’ve never experienced them, I can assure you that the pain can be severe.
WHAT CAUSES GROWING PAINS?
Contrary to its name, many medical doctors are unsure as to whether the pain many adolescents feel is connected to growth or not. Instead, they believe that excessive play during the day may be the culprit. Some even say that it’s caused by emotional problems.
Most chiropractors believe that the discomfort associated with growing pains can be caused by injury to the spine. As a matter of fact, it’s quite common for kids who are suffering from growing pains to complain of back pain at the same time. Because stress that occurs in one part of the body is frequently the result of a problem in another, you may want to take your child to visit a chiropractor if they’re having recurring bouts of growing pains.
HOW OUR CHIROPRACTIC TEAM CAN HELP
I find that children suffering with “growing pains” have misalignments in the body called subluxations. These create dysfunction of the knees, hips, pelvis and sometimes the feet and ankles. The focus of Chiropractic treatment is adjustments that remove these subluxations, restoring the normal alignment and the mechanics of joint motion. Soft tissue work in the form of stretching and massage is also helpful, but doesn’t seem to achieve lasting effects when practiced in the absence of adjustments.
Your nervous system controls absolutely everything in your body- cells, organs- there’s nothing your nervous system doesn’t have its hand in. However, these nerves are housed in the spinal column with all of the nerve roots exiting between your vertebrae (the bones of your spine). While this is designed to be a safe place to house the nervous system, physical, chemical and even emotional stress can cause an overload on the system, meaning that signals get confused and pain from various sources can result. To learn even more about this, and how we fix it:
FIND OUT WHY THE ZONE TECHNIQUE CAN HELP
Your chiropractic team’s specialty is the spine and the nervous system. They know how nerve stress can affect every single part of the body. That’s why your child’s chiropractor performs an examination before beginning treatment—because sometimes the pain that’s being felt in one part of the body actually originates somewhere else entirely.
If you think the Zone Technique could benefit your child, please give us a call to schedule an appointment!
