What could be the cause of ankle pain children?

Question

Hello doctor,

My son has very bad ankle pain. He suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and has been crying since. He did complain a couple of weeks back, but I massaged him, and he was normal. But this time, he cannot even sleep and is in pain.

Please help.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

There can be a few reasons for his ankle pain:

1. Growth pains in addition to calf muscle over-exhaustion can lead to such acute pains during sleep, or sometimes, it may not allow the cold to fall asleep at all.

2. Deficiency of calcium and magnesium, it could be a true deficiency (they are not getting enough of it in food) or it could be due to the sudden growth spurt or exhaustion, where the body’s demands are more than the amount supplied to it.

Apart from the above reasons, pain could also be because of a trauma to that area, and rarely due to a congenital disorder (unlikely in your child, if that were the reason, you would probably tell me about other symptoms as well).

So what you need to do now:

1. Supplementation of calcium and magnesium, various syrup formulations are available. Please find out locally as to which one is available.

2. Give him plenty of fruits like bananas, apples, and foods containing green leafy vegetables.

3. Having a hot water bath before going to bed helps in controlling the pain in a big way.

4. You can continue massaging his legs at night.

Let me know if this pain persists even after one week of following the above advice.

Thank you.