[Growing pains in children].

Growing pains refer to intermittently recurring pains locating in the lower extremities and causing arousal from sleep mostly in the evening or at night. This is an innocuous, albeit inconvenient ailment. Growing pains affect children at the age of 3 to 12 years and frequencies of occurrence vary from two to fifty percent. The cause of growing pains is not known, and no organic disease is assignable as an underlying cause. Although the diagnosis is often clear, certain differential diagnostic alternatives should be kept in mind. Despite their name, growing pains are not associated with the child's growth.