When children grow their bodies, they always shout "leg pain" and "knee pain".
Many parents do not do it properly, thinking that it is just "growing pain", and if they are negligent, something big may happen.
A 7-year-old boy in Jiangsu Province complained of leg pain, and his parents thought it was just the child "growing taller", so he delayed going to the hospital for two months.
Eventually, the child was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and had to undergo amputation.
After the doctor found out, he was distressed and regretful: "If the child could come two months earlier, he might have saved his leg." ”
No.01
Children always shout "leg pain"
Is it growing pains or osteosarcoma?
The age of growth pain is generally 3~12 years old, which is a kind of muscle pain unique to children's growth and development, the pathogenesis is not clear, and girls are more likely to have growth pain than boys.
The pain lasts for more than 3 months, at least once a month, most children's pain attacks disappear within 1~2 years, and a few children continue to have intermittent attacks for 5~10 years.
Osteosarcoma, also known as "bone cancer," is a rare tumor. Teenage children are preferred, as bone growth is fastest during this period, but younger children and adults also have it. In the mainland, there are about 10,000 new cases of bone cancer in children and adolescents every year.
It is manifested as bone or joint pain, mass near the bone, early symptoms are relatively insidious and easy to be confused with growth pain, and the degree of malignancy is high.
Source: CCTV Health Road, the most prone to osteosarcoma.
The most dangerous thing about osteosarcoma is that if it is not treated in time, lung metastasis is easy to occur in half a year to a year, and it is difficult to cure.
The incidence of this cancer is 3 per million. What is this concept?
This equates to 22 consecutive coin tosses, each time it is a head.
And many children were selected by this unfortunate coin.
In the documentary "The World 2", I deeply recognized "osteosarcoma" for the first time.
What should I do if I have osteosarcoma?
One way is to "scrape the bone to inactivate", take the bone out, scrape the tumor off, and put it back.
Source: "The World 2"
The other is amputation.
11-year-old An Tsai suffered from bone cancer and underwent amputation and lost her left hand.
On the day he put on the prosthesis, he was excited: "Can I carry a bag?" "Because he's always been eager to go back to campus.
Source: "The World 2"
However, despite amputation, Anzai could not escape the fate of the tumor metastasizing to his lungs and eventually died.
The doctor said helplessly: "The respiratory system stops, and the life is gone." ”
Young children fear amputation more than death.
Wang Sirong, in her youth, is a girl who loves beauty.
Source: "The World 2"
When she learned that she was going to have my limb amputated, she was completely stunned: "If you want to amputate my limb, apply for euthanasia for me."
Source: "The World 2"
In order to protect the little girl's life, the doctor thought of many ways and finally decided not to perform amputation, but to remove the entire leg and inactivate it as a whole.
The brave girl ultimately failed to overcome the disease, and at the end of the film, her name was white-framed.
In fact, osteosarcoma does not require amputation, nor is it terminally ill. After standardized comprehensive treatment, 80%-90% of patients can save limbs.
Therefore, "early detection and early treatment" is very important.
Especially when the child has osteosarcoma symptoms, especially fixed pain in one site, parents must take the child to the doctor in time.
In "The World", both An Zai and Si Rong delay treatment.
When the child cries out for pain, we must not mistake it for growing pain and ignore it, delaying the child's early detection and treatment.
The figure below is a symptom map of growing pain VS osteosarcoma
Click to enlarge
Don't panic when you see this form, children are naturally lively and active, jumping up and down is inevitable injury, in addition to growth pain and osteosarcoma, many people also ignore a disease -
Children can also get arthritis.
Features of arthritis
Pain lasting more than 2 weeks;
It mostly occurs in the large joints of the lower limbs such as knees and ankles;
Joints often have significant redness, swelling, heat, and pain
The typical feature is "morning stiffness": it appears stiff when you wake up.
When it is found that the child has "leg pain", for unknown reasons, do not apply ointment to the child to activate blood circulation and remove stasis.
If it is cancer, it will cause excessive blood circulation in the cancer site because of the ointment, resulting in accelerated metastasis of cancer cells.
In a word: if you are sick, don't ask Du Niang, go to the hospital quickly.
No.02
Growing pain, is the child growing taller?
Some parents have recently discovered that their children always complain of leg pain at night, and when they wake up the next day, their child's height has magically increased by 1 cm.
So it is always due to "growing pain".
In fact, this 1cm and growth pain, eight poles can not hit.
Growing pain is indeed "pain that occurs during the anagen phase", but it has nothing to do with "growing tall".
The cause of growing pains is currently unsolved in the world.
According to the Mayo Clinic website, the most likely cause of growing pains is excessive muscle use by the child during the day, such as vigorous running, jumping and climbing, resulting in excessive muscle and bone load
Growth pain may also be related to personal pain thresholds, such as some children who just feel stung by ants, and some children roll around in pain.
No.03
Growing pain, should I supplement calcium?
While calcium supplementation can help maintain bone health, growing pains are not caused by calcium deficiency.
Therefore, calcium supplementation does not relieve growing pain.
However, some authoritative small studies have shown that many children with growing pains are deficient in vitamin D.
After vitamin D supplementation, your child's growth pain levels are relieved. (Special note: Although the evidence that vitamin D can relieve growth pain is not sufficient, vitamin D supplementation is generally recommended for children, so eating at normal doses is harmless.) ）
No.04
How to relieve growing pain?
When children experience growing pains, they may feel very uncomfortable, and some children will wake up crying in the middle of the night.
Here are some ways to relieve this pain:
Gently massaging the painful areas of your baby, such as the calves or knees, can help reduce tension and pain.
Applying a hot water or ice pack to the painful area can help the baby relieve pain and discomfort.
Gentle movements on the bed, such as bending and stretching her toes, can help relieve muscle tension and pain.
After the babies exercise, the muscles are easy to overwork, so they need to help stretch and relax after exercise.
If the pain is not relieved, some over-the-counter medications, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, may be used. However, before taking painkillers, it is recommended to go to the pediatric consultation first, let the doctor prescribe the medicine, and do not take it yourself.
Life is impermanent, do not seek no disease and no disaster, but seek that the disease can be gentle, may the children be healthier, and the disaster be smaller...
Resources
[1] "The World on Earth 2" x Tencent Medical Codex | Focus on osteosarcoma, I hope you know about it sooner and never encounter it
[2] Jinrong Li, Fan Yang (revised) Chinese Journal of Child Health Research progress on growing pain in children
disclaimer
This article is intended to provide general health science information and is not a substitute for any individual's medical diagnosis and treatment. If you have any personal medical problems, please consult a doctor in time.