Growing pains: fact or fiction?

Growing pains are recurrent limb pains peculiar to children. Brief episodes of leg pains occurring intermittently at night are typical, but the clinical spectrum is variable. A diagnosis of growing pains can be made with certainty only after other possible conditions have been ruled out by appropriate studies and after the child has been observed carefully for a period of months. The two diseases most often confused with this syndrome are rheumatic fever and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Aspirin and supportive measures are beneficial.