Growing Pains in Children

Kids can have pain in various places for many different reasons. Some children get them early on in development while others get pain towards the end of their growth spurt. Why do some kids experience growing pains while others do not? I will try to answer those questions for you in today's Highlands Ranch Chiropractic blog.

Children and growing teenagers may have many different factors on why they get pain and tension, but I commonly see a few factors that keep coming up in my Highlands Ranch Chiropractic clinic. These seem to the major cause of whether your kid will have growing pains or not. The first factor is slouching or hunching over too much. Whether it is playing video games, texting too much, staring at a computer or laptop all day, or even being at school hunched over at your desk; this forward posture can cause all sorts of problem as you grow. It is essential during the growth and development years that your child maintains an upright posture. If not, you will most certainly have growing pains as your bones, ligaments, and tendons are trying to grow. Almost every patient I see with growing pains has a forward/hunched over posture. Here at Premier Chiropractic in Highlands Ranch, we will take before and after pictures to show you the improvement of posture while you are going through a chiropractic treatment plan. We will also teach you at home chiropractic exercises to ensure good posture. We know that nobody is going to be perfect with regards to their posture every day, but by getting the proper chiropractic adjustments as well as doing a few minutes of exercises; you can make sure you grow properly through these very important years.

The 2nd common factor I see in children with growing pains is overuse sports injuries. Kids were never meant to play this competitively at such a young age. It seems with all the club sports and after school activities; these kids never get a chance to rest their bodies. I am a huge advocate of sports for children, but they do need some time off. Here in Highlands Ranch, many kids are practicing 5 days a week and have many games each and every weekend. Make sure your kids get a break from time to time in order to rest their bones and joints. During the peak seasons, it is also essential to see your chiropractor on a more regular basis to keep the joints and tendons healthy. This will greatly decrease your chances of injury as well as growing pains. With a little bit of rest, proper stretching before and after exercise, icing at home, and regular trips to your chiropractor, you will help your kids feel better and compete at a higher level.

For more information about chiropractic care, visit Premier Chiropractic & Natural Medicine.