66 | AUGUST 31 • 2023 

C

hildren experience 
pain just like adults, 
but they might not 
exhibit the same signs.
While adults are often able 
to pinpoint causes of pain and 
verbalize those sensations, 
children, especially younger 
kids, may not know how to 
express what’s wrong. Instead, 
they could act withdrawn, 
cradle an aching body part or 
cry out unexpectedly.
Sometimes, they may be so 
used to pain that they don’t say 
or show any signs at all.
Studies show that anywhere 
from 20-35% of children and 
adolescents experience chronic 
pain, although this estimate 
is conservative because pain 
can often go undetected or 
unshared.
Chronic pain is pain 
that lasts three months or 
more, and it can have a 
serious impact on school-
aged children — affecting 
everything from their school 
experience to their learning 
habits. That’s why taking 
charge of chronic pain is so 
important.

NOT JUST 
‘GROWING PAINS’
Farmington Hills-based 
psychologist Dr. Emily Foxen-
Craft, founder of Pediatric Pain 
and Behavioral Health 
PLLC, specializes 
in pediatric chronic 
pain conditions. 
Through her private 
practice and previous 
work at CS Mott 
Children’s Hospital and 
University of Michigan 
as a psychologist for 
children with chronic 
pain, Foxen-Craft 
says an alarming number of 

children experience pain on a 
weekly basis — as high as 42%, 
she says.
“What we’re starting to 
understand and appreciate is 
that children experience pain a 
lot more than people thought,” 
Foxen-Craft, an active member 
of the Ann Arbor 
Jewish community and 
former Farber Hebrew 
Day School student, 
explains. “From 
bumping our leg or 
getting a headache, or 
sometimes a bigger 
injury, most humans 
have pain.”
The same rings 
true for children and 
teens. Historically, Foxen-Craft 

says pain in youth was often 
attributed to “growing pains” 
and dismissed from being true, 
chronic pain.
While the amount of 
children who experience 
disability from pain might be 
smaller than that of adults, 
pain — and chronic pain — is 
still a common experience in 
childhood.
Common sources of 
pain in youth are frequent 
headaches or migraine 
attacks, stomachaches and 
musculoskeletal pain, or pain 
throughout the body in bones, 
ligaments and more. One of 
the most common experiences 
in adults, meanwhile, is low 
back pain.

SIGNS OF PAIN
In preteens and teens, Foxen-
Craft says chronic pain rates 
increase tremendously. Luckily, 
older children can better 
express their symptoms, but 
young children and toddlers 
may not have the same ability.
Instead, Foxen-Craft says 
these signs may point to a child 
being in pain:
• Crying
• Protecting or holding a 
painful body part
• Avoiding certain activities
• Increased irritability
• More withdrawn
• Grimacing on the face
The problem, she says, is 
that children can get used to 
pain, even talking or grinning 

Tips For A Pain-Free 
School Year

HEALTH

Up to 35% of children experience chronic pain, 
according to studies.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Dr. Emily 
Foxen-Craft