Growing pains: practitioners' dilemma.

NEED AND PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Though cases of 'growing pains' are quite common in pediatric practice, very little attention has been given to it, even in the standard text books. The resultant confusion among practitioners regarding diagnosis and management of this condition needs to be addressed.

METHODS USED FOR LOCATING, SELECTING, EXTRACTING AND SYNTHESIZING DATA: PubMed search was performed using "growing pains "[All Fields] AND (("child"[MeSH Terms] OR "child"[All Fields] OR "children"[All Fields]) AND ("pediatrics"[MeSH Terms] OR "pediatrics"[All Fields] OR "pediatric"[All Fields])). Types of articles included are Review articles, Systemic Reviews, Randomized Controlled Trials, Practice guidelines and Observational studies. Google Scholar was also searched using the term "Growing pains in children". Relevant articles not included in the PubMed results were selected. Reference lists of selected studies were also screened to identify additional studies.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS: A fairly accurate diagnosis of growing pains can be made clinically, if the widely accepted diagnostic criteria are followed . A systematic approach, with due consideration of both inclusion as well as exclusion criteria, can avoid unnecessary (sometimes potentially harmful) investigations and medications. Reassurance remains the main stay in the management of 'growing pains'.