The value of an explanation

Alex has been having leg pains for about 18 months now. After the first 3-4 months I took him to the pediatrician.

Our pediatrician couldn't see anything but ran a boatload of blood tests to see if there was something wrong (everything from vitamin deficiencies to leukemia). The blood tests showed nothing, so we went to see an orthopedic doctor.

When we finally got into see the orthopedic doctor (2 months later), the doctor did a bone scan just to make sure, but said there was nothing wrong, it is just growing pains, and they would eventually go away.

Over a year later, Alex is still having almost nightly leg pains. It usually happens that he will wake up sometime between 12:30am and 3am and come into our bed crying and screaming that his legs hurt. We give him motrin or tylenol and I rub his legs until the motrin kicks in and then he goes to sleep. This happens about twice a week but has been getting more and more often.

I decided to take him back--I know he is growing, but 18 months seems like a long time for growing pains. I call the doctor we saw before and they said their first appointment was November 20th! Luckily a friend tells me about another pediatric orthopedic practice that she uses and they got us in within a week.

I took Alex today to see the doctor. I love this doctor--he only spent 10 minutes with us, and he gave us the same ultimate diagnosis...but the explanation made all the difference.

He told me that he wasn't having growing pains--he said that growing doesn't hurt. What Alex is having is Activity pains--he says that it is always the climbers and jumpers that they see with this. He said that Alex doesn't know how to land--an adult will jump and when he lands he will bend his knees and cushion the blow. Alex will just land however he happens to land. This puts a lot of strain on the bones--over time it adds up and causes leg pains. He will grow out of it, but only because he will eventually stop being so reckless (hopefully) in how he climbs and jumps and (more importantly) lands.

I've also been worried about giving him Tylenol or Motrin every night for long stretches and the doctor said he would be fine--that kids with juvenile arthritis take more than one dose a day for years and it doesn't hurt them so one dose a day for a couple of years isn't a problem.

So, ultimately, I have the same solution as I did last year, but I feel so much better because it actually makes sense--Alex is a crazy climber and jumper and it stands to reason that all that jumping would add stress to his bones.....more sense then saying that he is going through a constant growth spurt for the last 18 months.

I love it when I find a doctor that knows what they are doing, and, just as important, can explain it to me so I can understand too!