growing pains?

Almost definately growing pains. My son has chronic lower back pains from pitching- sometimes stabbing pain to where he can't do anything. A few days later and he is back to normal as if nothing happened. Personally I believe his pain is due to tight muscles due to growth and he slightly pulls them. He also gets pain in his plantars (heel on foot) when he plays basketball. It is so bad that after he plays he can barely walk. Some people think we are over-pushing our kid. The doctor said it was just tight muscles due to bone growth and not to worry too much- warm up and stretch good and don't overdue it.

Get a moist electric heat pad.

What happens when kids grow is their muscles, tendons and bones don't always grow at the same rate. Heat and ice at appropriate times help. Also get him out of athletic shoes and in flip flops as soon as he's done playing. If the pain persists take him to a sports ortho specialist. They'll understand from an athletic standpoint. A pediatrician will suggest Tylenol and rest for four weeks. If he has Osgood-Slatter or Severs don't take it lightly.

Yes, growing pain are very really. Son grew 11" in 2 years, his feet went from size 10 1/2 to 13 in 8 months! (age 12) He slowed down to about 1/2-3/4" in high school & finally grew into those feet.
I would have him sit in a warm bath tub (sometimes in the middle of the night), and used a massager, and a warm moist heating pad.
As RPM says, pay attention to Osgood-Slaughters. It can be very painful, especially for basketball players & catchers. Son quit catching because of it.

Also make sure his potassium levels are good. Low potassium can cause cramps that are similar to growing pains. "A banana a day"...

Ginger,
Could be spondylolysis. Has he been checked?

Take him to the doc. Better safe than sorry...

My 12 y/o son (a catcher) was also having some knee pain. Thanks to some other posters on this board we had him checked with a sports doc. He had some muscles that were not developing on the inside of each knee. He was given some knee exercises, and in 3 weeks he was really better. Nearly no pain, was walking better, and actually picked up some speed.

Never hurts to get an opinion from a good physician.

CWM

I do not beleive that such thing exists, some do. Usually when pain occurs at night for no explained reason, we call them growing pains, but if your son's or daughters play sports and they have issues, especially in areas other than the legs, I wouldn't be so sure it's from "growing pains".

Perhaps the pharae, "over doing it" makes more sense.

http://www.distanthealer.co.uk/growingpains.htm#

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
Ginger,
Could be spondylolysis. Has he been checked?

Never been checked. Had a Chiropractor adjust his back a few times, that is all.

Its kind of a strange thing. Last year the same thing happened near the end of the summer season and by fall it was not an issue at all. This year same thing except this fall he had a game where he threw 2 innings and stopped after that because his back was really bothering him. By the end of the game he could barely walk. Two weeks later he pitched and said it felt just fine. Not sure what it is other than slightly pulled muscles or nerves or something.

I don't know about the effects of spondylolysis it could be I guess. I never have worried about it too much because he seems to recover quickly from it just like his plantars in his feet.

Oh, about like the symptoms you've described. Actually, the symptoms tend to be a bit different for everyone. Some are completely shut down, some can pitch through it and some never feel anything. It is worth getting an x-ray at least. After this long the treatment would only be rest when it flared up most likely.

thanks to everyone who responded.. I think we are going to take him to an ortho doc just to be on the "safe side". It seems to hurt more on the inside of both knees, so that needs to be looked at.

I still worry about when he will get his "growth spurt". I know it's stupid and I shouldn't worry, but I can't help it.

He turned 14 this last summer, he's a little over 5'7" and about 108# soaking wet. At basketball prac. tonight I noticed quite a diff. in the size of the boys.. quite a few of them have underarm and leg hair. My son has none and still the face of a "boy".

Maybe the later spurt will be better in the long run, who knows? Maybe he will be taller..

quote:

Originally posted by iowabbmom:
thanks to everyone who responded.. I think we are going to take him to an ortho doc just to be on the "safe side". It seems to hurt more on the inside of both knees, so that needs to be looked at.

I still worry about when he will get his "growth spurt". I know it's stupid and I shouldn't worry, but I can't help it.

He turned 14 this last summer, he's a little over 5'7" and about 108# soaking wet. At basketball prac. tonight I noticed quite a diff. in the size of the boys.. quite a few of them have underarm and leg hair. My son has none and still the face of a "boy".

Maybe the later spurt will be better in the long run, who knows? Maybe he will be taller..

Don't worry about what you can't control. My son was 5'4" when he turned fourteen. On the freshman basketball team he was a foot shorter than some of the kids. He's a late spring birthday while the rest of the team had started school a year later. Some teammates were a year and a half older.

Two years later he's 6'1". His sister went from 4'8" to 5'10" in eighteen months. According to a wive's tale our pediatrician said is often true, a boy grows to be 6-8 inches taller than his mother.

quote:

Originally posted by Gingerbread Man:
Almost definately growing pains. My son has chronic lower back pains from pitching- sometimes stabbing pain to where he can't do anything. A few days later and he is back to normal as if nothing happened. Personally I believe his pain is due to tight muscles due to growth and he slightly pulls them. He also gets pain in his plantars (heel on foot) when he plays basketball. It is so bad that after he plays he can barely walk. Some people think we are over-pushing our kid. The doctor said it was just tight muscles due to bone growth and not to worry too much- warm up and stretch good and don't overdue it.

I believe there may be some Orthopedic issues. My son (a catcher) just turned 13 this month. He is now 6' 3" and 200lbs. During the Little League season he was 6' 2" and 194lbs. He was clocked at 81mph. He trains at Cutting Edge Sport Sciences and has had no real trouble with his knees. He does however have size 15 flat feet. He started wearing custon made sport orthotics and the results were instant. You may do yourself a huge favor by getting him into some custom orthotics.

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
I do not beleive that such thing exists, some do. Usually when pain occurs at night for no explained reason, we call them growing pains, but if your son's or daughters play sports and they have issues, especially in areas other than the legs, I wouldn't be so sure it's from "growing pains".

Perhaps the pharae, "over doing it" makes more sense.

http://www.distanthealer.co.uk/growingpains.htm#

Yes, there are somethings I don't believe in also. Such as, the Easter Bunny. Other things really don't matter if you believe in them or not, such as growing pains or Santa, they exist.

Having a medical background I would like to state that the evidence tells us that as a child grows, their bones out pace the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. This causes them to have to stretch to catch up. On a physical exam these same muscles are usually visibly shorter then what would be considered normal.

BTW, overuse is not an option on some kids believe it or not! I'm also not sure if posting a link to a "Distance Spiritual Healer" as your reference is going to make others say, "wow he must be onto something!" Not that I'm trying to rip your link, but is it pretty much just an opinionated site. Not something I would go to for medical advice.

Have a Great Day!

We actually took my son to the ortho last week...he couldn't find anything "wrong".

Hamstrings were tight, so he is saying the pain is due to growing...

Did xray of the one knee he was having more problems with, and noted that his growth plates were wide open and he hasn't had his "spurt" yet, but he thinks he will soon...I don't know how he could tell that from an xray though, maybe he was looking more at his age.

Tight hamstrings, as well as tight in the groin area where everything is stretching. I also do believe in growing pains,a s stated the muscles and tendons have not caught up to the rapid bone growth.

Follow up on my son-

Been a few weeks since his last visit to the doctor. Since he has been stretching out and playing a few times a week (basketball), he has no more pains in his back. Now it is in his hamstrings. He can run and jump with the best of them now though with his hamstrings only tightening up after a long hard running practice.

Am of the opinion that even with multiple visits to specialists, just plain old common sense seems to be the trick in our case this time. I call it just plain old growing pains. Docs told him it was poor core strength which I never really bought into. No one else on the team had his issues and they are almost all weaker in their cores.

G-man, I was wondering how old your son was and how tall?

My son hasn't changed much (although his voice has started squeaking)and height seems to be increasing at a steady pace...hasn't put on any muscle yet. He is playing basketball also, but can't really jump like some of the boys can. He looks like a tall little boy

He always had that "stork" factor - kind of walking bent over at the waist, so I have him working with a trainer on core strength, balance,etc. Seems to have helped, started about 5 weeks ago. I am hoping it will benefit his pitching also.

quote:

Originally posted by Gameth:

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
I do not beleive that such thing exists, some do. Usually when pain occurs at night for no explained reason, we call them growing pains, but if your son's or daughters play sports and they have issues, especially in areas other than the legs, I wouldn't be so sure it's from "growing pains".

Perhaps the pharae, "over doing it" makes more sense.

http://www.distanthealer.co.uk/growingpains.htm#

Yes, there are somethings I don't believe in also. Such as, the Easter Bunny. Other things really don't matter if you believe in them or not, such as growing pains or Santa, they exist.

Having a medical background I would like to state that the evidence tells us that as a child grows, their bones out pace the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. This causes them to have to stretch to catch up. On a physical exam these same muscles are usually visibly shorter then what would be considered normal.

BTW, overuse is not an option on some kids believe it or not! I'm also not sure if posting a link to a "Distance Spiritual Healer" as your reference is going to make others say, "wow he must be onto something!" Not that I'm trying to rip your link, but is it pretty much just an opinionated site. Not something I would go to for medical advice.

Have a Great Day!

Over doing it is very common, sorry to disagree.
Pains that wake adolescents in the night and disappear the neck day are growing pains. How about pitching a game and then going home to throw as hard as you can against a wall for hours, that's what Gingerbreadman has laid claim to, so I am not suprised he's having issues.
My daughter was a ballet dancer, she never stopped, no one puts their body through more toruture than a ballet dancer, her "pains" began at 14, they said that she had growing pains, at 17 she had to stop dancing, and at 32 she is told that her neck and back issues all stem from her childhood dancing experience. If I had known what I had then, she would have had some rest periods in between. Yes, young children can over do it, that's why more and more younger "children" are being seen and operated (knees, elbows, shoulders) these days.

I agree that "over-doing" it is a problem.

My son is in 8th grade and will start middle school basketball after X-mas break, indoor baseball prac. also starts in Jan. I was hoping he would just want to focus on baseball this winter and not play basketball, but he still wants to do both.

He is an average player at basketball..not a stand-out, I believe he has more talent on the baseball field. The thing is, I just don't know what kind of basketball player he could be... once he is physically mature.

I have no idea how tall he will be, I am 5'7", my DH is 6'. My dad was 6'3".

At what age/grade do you need to start narrowing down the sports you are involved in?

During Jr's growing years, he'd complain of knee pain when he was growing.

When his knee's stopped hurting, he'd asked to be measured and would invariably be a few inches taller. He wouldn't grow for a few months and the process would start again.

He just turned 16 and knees aren't hurting as much any more. He's 6'4" now.

He actually had stretch marks on his knees during the biggest spurts, which are fading with age...

quote:

At what age/grade do you need to start narrowing down the sports you are involved in?

It depends on the size of the high school, competition for roster spots and the player's desire to play college ball. Wait long enough and the coach of a sport may make the decision for the player. There are two kids at our high school who quit a sport entering high school to focus on another. Looking back they chose the wrong sport to drop.

At a large high school my son was cut from basketball soph year for not attending any fall optional workouts. The coach said he didn't see commitment. The coach also knew he was already playing a fall varsity sport and was a lock to start varsity baseball in the spring. The net is the basketball coach made the decision for him. The coach added if he wanted to commit to basketball he would be welcomed back. He was the starting point guard on the freshman team.

I think soph year is the time to start making decisions whether three sports are too many or if there is a specific offseason needed to train for a specific sport. The biggest leap my son made in his baseball skills was the first basketball season he didn't play. Instead of running weight off with basketball, he trained like a hound and added a lot of strength.

quote:

Originally posted by iowabbmom:
G-man, I was wondering how old your son was and how tall?

My son hasn't changed much (although his voice has started squeaking)and height seems to be increasing at a steady pace...hasn't put on any muscle yet. He is playing basketball also, but can't really jump like some of the boys can. He looks like a tall little boy

He always had that "stork" factor - kind of walking bent over at the waist, so I have him working with a trainer on core strength, balance,etc. Seems to have helped, started about 5 weeks ago. I am hoping it will benefit his pitching also.

Son just turned 14 (8th grade). He is 5'9" and weighs 170 with a semi stocky/muscular build.

G-man, my son is the same age, 5'8" and 112#...a bit lighter than your son

I was also wondering, how many high schools allow 8th graders to try out for the H.S. baseball team -freshman?

We were playing in a World Series in Florida on my son's 12th birthday. He was our best pitcher and was gonna let him pitch on his birthday. He complained when we were warming up that his feet hurt and he was not throwing hard. I just played it off that he wanted to do something else on his birthday. When he got on the mound, he was throwing about 30-40 mph when he normally threw 65-70. I said quit playing around and he said I'm not. I just don't have it. I pulled him and put him in the outfield. He could not run the bases. We lost and came home. It was a long ride home. He tried to play with a local team that weekend and was no better. When we went to the doctor, he said if he was not going through a growth spurt we needed to do some test. He began to grow the next week and grew 8 inches in 2 months and 3 shoe sizes. In God's humor, this was in August and September after buying new school clothes. During the growth spurt, he could not hardly walk and could not throw at all.
Now we both look back and laugh about it every year on his birthday when he is playing baseball.

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and grew 8 inches in 2 months and 3 shoe sizes

Now that's fast enough to see with the naked eye!

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I was also wondering, how many high schools allow 8th graders to try out for the H.S. baseball team -freshman?

It would depend on the size of the school and the state. It's not allowed where my son goes to school. It's not the state. It's the size of the school. Only the smallest size classification schools are allowed. At his high school even freshmen only try out for the freshman team unless they get an invite from the coach to tryout out for varsity. The best handful of freshmen play JV. Last year a soph started opening day on varsity for the first time in six years. Only one freshman has ever made varsity. It's a large classification school.

At our high school, the only way the Freshman can tryout for Jv or Varisty, is they must be invited to tryout by the coach. We are a large school classification.

Depending on the talent of the Upper class and obviously the talent of the freshman...we have had about 2-3 freshman invited to try out for JV/V and one or two usually make JV, vary rarely will they make Varsity.

This also pertains to 8th graders, nothing against the rules but I might imagine if could affect the number of years they are allowed to play high school sports? We have no 8th graders make a freshman team that I am aware of.

Ours is a small K-12 school, and players can try out at any time. I would be surprised if there weren't a couple of sixth graders at tryouts next month. There have been several young guys at off-season conditioning. 2B played JV as a 7th grader, and varsity as an 8th grader.

quote:

could affect the number of years they are allowed to play high school sports?

Not here. The clock doesn't start ticking until they are actually in HS.

Not here either. Start when you get into HS. Freshmen can try out for JV and Varsity. My understanding is it had been quite a while since any freshmen played varsity until two years ago. One kid was brought up during the season. He started his sophmore year and has since been offered D1 scholarships by several big SEC and ACC schools. He is a junior this year. Last year, there were two freshmen to make varsity. One played freshman, JV and varsity. One pitched varsity and played position on JV.

We are in the biggest classification in Georgia, although our school is borderline. Cut off is 1900 students, we have around 1945. Classification has some schools with over 3500 students.

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We are in the biggest classification in Georgia, although our school is borderline. Cut off is 1900 students, we have around 1945. Classification has some schools with over 3500 students.

There's a school in our largest school classification that has more than twice the enrollment in three grades as our high school has in four. Obviously they dominant sports. For the past fifteen years there has been talk about splitting into two high schools. An anti taxpayers organization has been the biggest force in preventing the split. Several other huge high schools have split. They rebound athletically in a couple of years.

The middle school players from smallest classification schools playing varsity get a waiver on years of participation. If a private school isn't part of the state athletic association it doesn't matter.

WOW Jeff, that's some growth spurt! ouch!Did he continue to grow that following year?

In Iowa, 8th graders are allowed to try-out for the freshman (and possibly JV,V) team. If they make it and they continue to play every year that means they would play 5 years of high school ball.

He went from 5'5" as a 12 year old to 6'1". Grew the last 2 inches the next summer. He is 17 now and seems to have stopped growing up. 6'3" 215 pounds. His body hurt all over and he could hardly walk without limping. The growth plates in his feet were the problem.