Lower leg pain in teenager...calm me down please!

[DLgal]

My 15 year old son has been complaining of lower leg pain since Sunday. We initially wrote this off as growing pains. He has had various bone aches and pains (short lived) over the years in his arms and legs, but it's been 3 days and he is still in pain. Ibuprofen and rest isn't helping. He says it hurts even when he is sitting. He is autistic so it's been hard to nail down what exactly hurts. He started off grabbing the front of his ankle, then the next day said it was his knee, and now today says it's the shin bone. When I squeeze his muscles, he says that doesn't hurt. Has more pain when putting weight on it and is limping. Of course we have a 3 night Disneyland stay starting Friday. I am taking him to the doctor later this morning, but I'm very worried. He did not injure himself. He is not an athlete. He uses our elliptical a few times a week and we swam laps a couple times last week. He sat out a bike ride sunday due to this pain. It basically started suddenly.

Has anyone had a kid experience anything like this and had it be something totally benign like growing pains?

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm guessing a "tweaked" ankle. You don't have to be an athlete to over stretch something, and he may not realize he did anything. Doctor's office is a good start.

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation

 

[TipsyTraveler]

My 15 year old son has been complaining of lower leg pain since Sunday. We initially wrote this off as growing pains. He has had various bone aches and pains (short lived) over the years in his arms and legs, but it's been 3 days and he is still in pain. Ibuprofen and rest isn't helping. He says it hurts even when he is sitting. He is autistic so it's been hard to nail down what exactly hurts. He started off grabbing the front of his ankle, then the next day said it was his knee, and now today says it's the shin bone. When I squeeze his muscles, he says that doesn't hurt. Has more pain when putting weight on it and is limping. Of course we have a 3 night Disneyland stay starting Friday. I am taking him to the doctor later this morning, but I'm very worried. He did not injure himself. He is not an athlete. He uses our elliptical a few times a week and we swam laps a couple times last week. He sat out a bike ride sunday due to this pain. It basically started suddenly.

Has anyone had a kid experience anything like this and had it be something totally benign like growing pains?

I often got shin splints in my teens which happened if I’d been exercising more than usual and were quite painful. This sounds similar.

 

[DLgal]

I'm guessing a "tweaked" ankle. You don't have to be an athlete to over stretch something, and he may not realize he did anything. Doctor's office is a good start.

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation

I am inclined to agree with you here. He did yesterday say the top of his foot was hurting and when I rotated his ankle inward he said that hurt too. No pain on outward rotation. He has kind of weak ankles, but is very large boned. He has flat feet and overpronates significantly but has never complained of pain in his feet or ankle before.

 

[princesscinderella]

Magnesium and potassium deficiency can cause leg pains too.

 

[Meglen]

I often got shin splints in my teens which happened if I’d been exercising more than usual and were quite painful. This sounds similar.

Was about to say this. They really hurt and you can get them from doing very little if your prone to them.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I’d say tweaked ankle or shin splints. I hope the doctor is able to give you some answers and that he’s feeling better for Disney!

 

[DLgal]

I’d say tweaked ankle or shin splints. I hope the doctor is able to give you some answers and that he’s feeling better for Disney!

Thank you! The timing is terrible, but I told him worst case we will rent him a wheelchair for the parks. Poor kid is so worried we are going to cancel the trip.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Thank you! The timing is terrible, but I told him worst case we will rent him a wheelchair for the parks. Poor kid is so worried we are going to cancel the trip.

My daughter ended up with shin splints on our trip a few weeks ago. It’s not fun, but it’s doable. Just take it slow - and yes, get the wheelchair if needed.

But I understand the worry!

 

[AndreaDM]

So this is totally out there and pretty rare, but my daughter suddenly developed foot/leg pain a few years ago. She was a dancer at the time so thought she just pulled something, but it didn't go away and she complained about it even after swimming. Took her to a foot specialist and turns out she has an extra bone in each foot, called an accessory navicular. Most people who have this never have symptoms unless they are athletic. Like I said, pretty rare but worth keeping in mind if you can't figure anything else out.

 

[neverlandsky]

(((HUGS))) We've been doing Motrin & heating pad.

 

[DLgal]

So, interestingly we are waiting to get an x ray done...on my son's hips.

The doctor did a full exam of his lower body and when she had him lay flat and bent his knee up and rotated it around, he said his hip hurt. She mentioned that in growing teens, sometimes the hip joint can get out of alignment and cause referred leg pain. Since his pain is diffuse over a large area, he is limping, and he hasn't had an acute injury, she is convinced it's either his hip or he has an overuse injury of some sort and he should rest for a week. We will get the x ray results by tonight and if it's not his hips, she doesn't feel it is anything serious due to no redness, swelling, or rash.

 

[design_mom]

^^ I was just going to say something like that.

My son was a cross country runner and suffered from recurring shin splints his first two years of running. His coach finally suggested that we see a PT. The PT said his hips were weak. The PT gave my son some exercises to strengthen his hip muscles and the shin splints subsided (and did not come back). I am not sure that it would have shown up on an x-ray... but his hip weakness definitely caused lower leg pain. His hips weren't the thing that hurt, but they were the root of the problem. The exercises that were recommended were various leg lifts and stretches.

 

[DLgal]

^^ I was just going to say something like that.

My son was a cross country runner and suffered from recurring shin splints his first two years of running. His coach finally suggested that we see a PT. The PT said his hips were weak. The PT gave my son some exercises to strengthen his hip muscles and the shin splints subsided (and did not come back). I am not sure that it would have shown up on an x-ray... but his hip weakness definitely caused lower leg pain. His hips weren't the thing that hurt, but they were the root of the problem. The exercises that were recommended were various leg lifts and stretches.

I'm inclined to believe it's his hip since after he did the x ray, where he had to lay like a frog with his legs splayed out, he was limping much worse and whined that his knee was hurting.

I can see hip weakness being an issue. I will keep in mind to ask for a PT evaluation if he isn't better in a week or so and his hip x ray is clear.

 

[Cheburashka]

I'm inclined to believe it's his hip since after he did the x ray, where he had to lay like a frog with his legs splayed out, he was limping much worse and whined that his knee was hurting.

I can see hip weakness being an issue. I will keep in mind to ask for a PT evaluation if he isn't better in a week or so and his hip x ray is clear.

I hope this goes away on its own, but if it doesn't I hope physical therapy helps! If you have a good therapist, it can really make a difference in many conditions. It did wonders for me after a car accident. May God bless you, your son and your family.

 

[leebee]

@DLgal , how's your son?

 

[LuvOrlando]

By all means get it checked but there is an amazing gel I get that is prescription but is now available OTC called Voltaren gel, it lasts about 5 hours and needs to be reapplied but it is absolutely amazing. It takes about 20 min to work and can trick a person into overdoing it so that's why I say get checked but assuming it's a mild injury it totally works.

 

[monsterkitty]

So this is totally out there and pretty rare, but my daughter suddenly developed foot/leg pain a few years ago. She was a dancer at the time so thought she just pulled something, but it didn't go away and she complained about it even after swimming. Took her to a foot specialist and turns out she has an extra bone in each foot, called an accessory navicular. Most people who have this never have symptoms unless they are athletic. Like I said, pretty rare but worth keeping in mind if you can't figure anything else out.

I had this in my foot as well and any injury in my left foot or ankle as a child and teen took twice as long to heal. I had my accessory navicular removed about 10 years ago and it was horrible. There were extenuating injuries around the bone that made it worse when they finally removed it. The surgeon said if they had removed it when they discovered it while I was in high school, the surgery and recovery would have been a lot easier.

 

[low-key]

Dont worry its not cancer, Im thinking worse case scenario is stress fracture from using elliptical a few days a week

 

[ronandannette]

Magnesium and potassium deficiency can cause leg pains too.

This, especially during very hot weather when you might be a little dehydrated also but it manifests as muscle cramps (Charley horse). I was also wondering about maybe a blood clot but that’s more of a muscle-type pain too I think.