What to do if a child has sore legs?

The baby's gait changes or he starts to complain that his legs hurt. These complaints should not be overlooked by parents, because the problem may be much more serious than it seems at first glance. There are many reasons for pain in the lower limbs. Diseases that are accompanied by such a symptom are far from harmless.

Most often, doctors complain of pain in the knees, which is sweeping in nature. No less often, children complain of aching feet in the morning or in the evening. Often, pipsqueak declares that his feet hurt.

If no additional symptoms are added to these complaints, there is most likely no danger or the problem is easily fixed. But swollen and reddened joints, pain that does not go away throughout the day, accompanying aching or sharp pains in the spine, hip joint, general malaise, physical development lag should alert the physician and parents. So kiddies need a thorough examination, which will include radiographs, ultrasound of the joints and blood vessels, MRI.

A complete examination with mandatory blood tests should also be performed for spasms of the gastrocnemius muscle. About this condition they say "leg cramped."

Most often, small children aged 2-3-4-5 years, slightly older and teenagers complain of pain in the legs. In those and in others, the appearance of discomfort is usually associated with the most natural cause — the rapid growth of bones, behind which the muscular skeleton and ligaments do not always “succeed”.

This is due to the fact that up to 6-7 years in the child’s body there are not enough elastic fibers. The peculiarity of the child's body is that the feet and calves grow faster than the rest of the limb. It is clear that they need enhanced blood supply. And it can only be during the day when the child runs, jumps, plays, when his muscles work. At night, the intensity of blood circulation slows down somewhat, hence the appearance of pain.

Such physiological pains are not a disease, but parents still need to monitor the gait and condition of the child, often pay attention to the time the pain occurs (legs hurt after sleeping or after a long walk, whether the pain is related to the weather, etc.). Most often, physiologically caused discomfort occurs in the evenings, after the child has been moving all day. They have the character of aches, especially knees, ankles, and Achilles tendon hurt.

If usually no discomfort is observed and the syndrome has arisen suddenly, this may indicate the presence of injury. Children, especially mobile and enthusiastic, may not notice how in the midst of the game they stretched, tucked or hurt their legs, and a little later, when the kids calm down, the pain manifests itself in all its glory. You should carefully inspect the leg for edema, bruises, wounds, if necessary, attach a cold to the injured area and go to the emergency room.

If the cause of pain is inflammation in the joints, it is impossible to ignore such complaints. A huge number of diseases, both infectious, vascular, neurological, and musculoskeletal are capable of causing such an unpleasant symptom.These diseases can be congenital or acquired.

If it is more and more clear to congenital ones, because parents know what they are dealing with and they guess what pain can be caused to, then it is harder to get it from acquired ones. The causes of painful changes in the muscles, joints and bones of the legs can be:

• scoliosis;

• flat feet and valgus deformity of feet;

• Schlätter's disease;

• calcium and phosphorus deficiency;

• diabetes;

• heart defects and blood vessels with insufficient blood supply to the lower extremities;

• leukemia;

• varicose veins;

• infectious diseases;

• neurocircular dystonia;

• rheumatism or rheumatoid arthritis;

• chronic diseases of the nasopharynx (tonsillitis, adenoids).

If the joint has become red, gray or brown, this may indicate a systemic infection; you need to go to the hospital immediately. If it is not possible to get there, you should call an ambulance.

But in case of pain in the knee joint and below it, when from the front of the calyx from time to time, it should be treated with understanding - this is the so-called Schlatter disease. It occurs for reasons unknown to medicine so far, but it does not pose a particular risk for the child and in most cases passes with age. Most often it is registered in children who are actively involved in sports.

Strangely enough, but in children the appearance of pain syndrome is very interconnected with the mental and emotional state. Therefore, it happens that a comprehensive examination does not reveal any compelling reasons for concern, and then you can visit a psychologist. Strong fear, constant stress in which the child is, pressure on him by adults may well cause pain in the lower limbs.

In this case, the pain will be episodic, they will be quite strong. It is noteworthy that psychosomatic pains appear in circumstances resembling those for which the ailment first started. You can help your child by reducing the level of his daily stress. Positive emotions and the elimination of the causes of fear or experiences lead to the gradual disappearance of unpleasant sensations.

There is another category of patients with complaints of pain in the legs. The fact is that a child may not admit for quite a long time that he wears uncomfortable shoes, as a result of which fingers and heels are injured. It may be old corns and even growths. After removing them and changing their shoes to a more comfortable one, the gait is usually leveled and complaints stop completely. If the ingrown nail on the leg became the cause of unpleasant sensations, then it is rather quickly and almost painlessly removed, after healing, all the symptoms disappear.

If the child complains of pain in the legs, parents should definitely start the examination with a visit to the traumatologist. The child will be examined, if necessary, an X-ray will be taken of that part of the lower limb, to which the child most often complains, and will be told whether he has any mechanical injuries. If they are not there, you need to go to the pediatrician with the pictures on hand.

The pediatrician will prescribe a laboratory diagnosis for the child: urinalysis, CBC, blood for leukocyte formula. In addition, the doctor must make sure that the child does not have an infectious disease, for example, such as the flu, because his legs also hurt. According to the test results, the pediatrician will tell you whether the baby has enough calcium and phosphorus, their deficiency leads to strong spasms of the calves (the very condition when the “leg has contracted”).

With ready analyzes and X-rays, the child will go to the neurologist to make sure that there are no pathologies in the nervous system, and then to the orthopedic surgeon who will examine the bones, joints, spine, feet for developmental defects, abnormalities in the structure.He will answer the question whether there are flat feet, foot deformities, scoliosis, poor posture, problems with joints and ligaments. May require additional MRI.?

If there are no violations found here, and the legs will continue to hurt, you will have to visit a children's hematologist, who, by blood tests and additional research, will find out if the child has leukemia, in which the pain in the legs is one of the starting symptoms.

Only an extremely small percentage of children with pain in the legs need surgery if it is a question of vascular or orthopedic abnormalities. With early treatment and timely detection of the disease, more than 90% of pathologies can be corrected by conservative methods.

With physiological pains, it is enough to massage your feet lightly in the morning, after waking up, this will help to establish a good blood supply to the lower limbs. In the evening, after all the active games for the feet, you can prepare a warm bath with a decoction of chamomile or plantain. After this, the feet should again be massaged slightly before bedtime. The use of drugs such a state does not require, as well as special skills in the art of massage.

In some orthopedic diseases - wearing made to special sizes, taking into account the angles of deviation from the norm of orthopedic shoes. Almost all of these procedures, parents can easily carry out the child at home - and massage, and exercise therapy (after prior training with a specialist).

In case of inflammation of the joints, nonsteroidal ointments, as well as agents with local anesthetic effect, help well. Sometimes they are allowed to make compresses. With a lack of calcium and phosphorus, the child is prescribed appropriate medications containing the necessary substances.

• From early childhood, when the child begins to take the first steps, he must have comfortable and proper shoes that fix the foot. It is best if it has closed noses and a small heel, as well as a hard backdrop.

• When complaining of pain in the legs, the child needs to walk more often barefoot - both at home and on the street (if you have your own yard, cottage, house in the village, where you can walk on the grass, stones, sand with bare feet). This contributes to the correct formation of the arch of the foot and the reduction of pain during physiological causes, with flatfoot. It may not be possible to reach them at all if the child is accustomed to walk barefoot from the first steps - such kids usually have no complaints about their legs.

• Wearing orthopedic shoes, if not prescribed by a doctor, there is no point. If it is made without taking into account the individual characteristics of the foot, then there is no medical benefit from it.

• It should be done in time for all preventive vaccinations, it will protect the child from infections that can cause complications on the legs. You also need to timely treat the flu, acute respiratory viral infections and visit the dentist for oral sanitation.

• You should not try to help a child with pain in the legs using folk remedies without consulting a doctor. This can lead to the loss of precious time, which specialists need in time to come to the aid of a child with serious diseases.

More about the causes of leg pain and what to do, you will learn from the following video.