St. Cronan Church
Liturgies
Saturdays: 5 pm
Sundays: 8 am & 10 am Weekdays: 8 am
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturdays: 4:30 pm
or by appointment
Saint Cronan Church
1202 S. Boyle Ave.
Saint Louis, MO 63110
(314) 256-9350
St. Cronan’s Health Cabinet
Observations and Reasons for Kids to Hurt
Many children from toddler thru teens, fall. As parents we consider this normal as children learn to walk…and fall, ride a bike…and fall, play sports and get kicked, hit or dive for balls and bases. Yes, the normal activities can lead to brief pain. Loving comfort alone or heat/cold, elevation, or a little Tylenol is often enough to resolve the tears.
We teach in sports and often at home to get over it…you’ll be fine. We often make these judge-ments as parents, using our observation skills. Hopefully our parents taught us these skills. Be alert for these situations:
1. The pain does NOT lessen or go away.
2. The area is “protected” and the child may not move it.
3. The pain is making a child a couch potato because activities hurt, and thus weight increases as activities decrease.
4. The child with or without an injury does not walk well, perhaps limps and reports feet/knee/hip pain.
5. Children can hurt with “growing pains”. When bones grow, the muscles and tendons must also stretch and grow. OUCH. Most children do well thru this growth. Nutrition is so important to help all to grow normally and not lead to painful bones. Milk is very important.
6. Some teen girls experience very painful menses. Seek OB GYN assistance.
Always, listen to your child. We often do not realize that children can also have many of the same problems as adults: disc problems, hip dysphasia, feet anomalies, leg length discrepancies, head-aches, chronic pain from simplistic injuries, etc. An obese child sleeping on a floor or limited sup-port mattress can have pain. Headaches and shoulder pain from the stresses in school, with pover-ty, with family problems, etc. require attention. A highly respected therapist has taught me: “The body does not forget the injuries of our life”. If you feel your child has pain that is not being man-aged well enough by your Pediatrician or Nurse Practitioner, seek a consult for Pediatric Pain Management or perhaps an Orthopedist.
By: Dorothy Lucey, Health Cabinet, RN, MSN, BC, PNP
