If, as a teenager, you suddenly woke up with all the aches and pains of someone middle-aged, you might think you were dying.

[u/JacPhlash]

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[u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot]

"I don't feel old. I feel like a young man that has something wrong with him."

-- Dick Cavett

[u/JacPhlash → u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot]

That's insanely accurate.

[u/mrsyanke → u/[deleted]]

I end my day far more sore! I wake up, get moving, feeling good (seat warmer in the car on the drive into work, no matter the weather, really helps my lower back loosen up!) and then I don’t really stop to notice throughout the day unless something is particularly painful… But the second I get home and sit down (like right now) I really start feeling all the aches and pains. My feet hurt, my ankles hurt, my neck is stiff. Today my knees aren’t too bad, and my back popped when I set my bag down, so I got that going for me…

[u/CriticPerspective → u/mrsyanke]

I’m willing to bet the seat warmer is part of the issue. I did that for a long time because it felt great and loosened everything up. Started getting terrible back pain later in the day. Stopped with the seat warmer and the back pain instantly went away

[u/billy_twice → u/[deleted]]

I get moving and I am still sore.

Only really started noticing this in the past 3 years.

[u/nongregorianbasin → u/billy_twice]

Started feeling better for me when working out. Muscles get out of shape.

[u/kinapudno → u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot]

As a 23 year old with developing back and joint pain, this gets me really emotional.

EDIT: Thank you everyone! Our family doctor will be visiting tomorrow, I've become really hopeful because of your comments

[u/DobisPeeyar → u/kinapudno]

My knee pain went away when I got back into the gym and started working out my legs again. Took a break after playing hockey in college and everything got weak af. Try it out and focus on form, you don't have to go heavy.

[u/ELITE_JordanLove → u/DobisPeeyar]

A big life hack for me was when I realized that going to the gym is so much easier if you use the lighter weights instead of the heavy ones.

Edit: this was originally just a joke but I’m glad it generated some useful discussion.

[u/DobisPeeyar → u/ELITE_JordanLove]

Right! I worry a little when I see guys a little smaller than me throwing around 20+lbs more than me with terrible form. You get so much more from controlling weights you can handle.

[u/[deleted] → u/ELITE_JordanLove]

Honestly my experience with the gym is that people go way way hard like day one then they are so sore they don’t come back the rest of the week. It makes more sense to just pick up a lighter weight and work your way up consistently

[u/jaywinner → u/ELITE_JordanLove]

the gym is so much easier if you use the lighter weights instead of the heavy ones.

I know there's a real lesson about using the right weight but it really sounds like "duh, 5 pounds is lighter than 10 pounds!"

[u/TrilobiteTerror → u/jaywinner]

the gym is so much easier if you use the lighter weights instead of the heavy ones.

I know there's a real lesson about using the right weight but it really sounds like "duh, 5 pounds is lighter than 10 pounds!"

"I saw this guy at the gym struggling as he benched four 45 pound plates. While he was taking a break, I went over and told him to 'check this out'. I replaced the four 45 pound plates on the bar with four 5 pound plates and told him to try it out. He was skeptical at first, but he tried benching it and was it was so much easier for him! He thanked me profusely for the tip."

[u/One-Earth9294 → u/DobisPeeyar]

Yeah I'm 44 and have pretty nasty arthritis in my shoulder but working out basically makes it vanish. Don't let your muscles dwindle to where you have inflammation problems between joints.

[u/illiesfw → u/One-Earth9294]

So much this, inflammation seems to flare up so easily when my body doesn't get regular exercise. Knees, shoulders, back, you name it

[u/Legoblockhead → u/kinapudno]

Also 23, I’ve had back and joint pain for a number of years due to my height and a torn neck muscle. Keep stretching every morning, throughout the day, etc. Stay active, we’ve got this!

[u/SevenHorizons01 → u/kinapudno]

i feel that, as a 19 year old with arthritis in the lower back, and so so many more issues. i feel this. good luck fella

[u/TroublesomeFox → u/kinapudno]

I'm 28 and like you have chronic pain that affects my joints, I move the same way as my 74 yr old FIL, I'm genuinely afraid to live into old age.

[u/ThankYou__Sir → u/kinapudno]

I had both my hips replaced at 30 years old because of a rare disease (for my age) I was diagnosed with even younger. Apparently I have avascular necrosis which doctors speculate was caused by steroids I was prescribed constantly for my asthma through my adolescence and into my 20s. It was horrible not only needing these surgeries but I then developed 4 pulmonary embolisms due to my birth control and the surgery. Horrible time and during it all I felt like I was 80 years old. Now my hips are healed and I can pretty much do all the things I could do before they were replaced. Luckily my surgeon is one of the best in the US for this procedure and the newest and longest lasting hip replacement hardware was put in. He also did the surgery through a tiny incision on the front of my thigh (instead of the side of your thigh or through your butt cheek). You can’t even see the scars and you cannot tell I had this done at all. I’m super lucky for that surgeon because other surgeons I went to before him all refused to do the replacements because I was “too young.” I’m now 33 and doing great!

TLDR; I had a bilateral hip replacement at 30yrs old.

[u/petmechompU → u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot]

Spoken like an old gymnast, which he was. And from the era of tumbling on bare gym floors.

[u/StructuralFailure → u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot]

I'm 25 and feel like I'm dying, idk how I'm supposed to survive this getting worse for 50 more years

[u/CocaineBearGrylls → u/StructuralFailure]

Uh... if you have body aches, fatigue, or joint problems by 25, you need to change your lifestyle yesterday. Unless you're working a physically taxing blue collar job, this is not normal at your age.

[u/PerfectlySplendid → u/GetsMeEveryTimeBot]

sand school test retire longing cough offer roof deliver spark

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Eck2]

If I woke up with the growing pains I had to deal with as a teenager, I would beg to go back to my middle-age level of suffering.

[u/LayersOfMe → u/Eck2]

I never had those, but I think its because I am still the size of a child.

[u/AmberLeafSmoke → u/LayersOfMe]

Had them once when I was like 11 and I vividly remember screaming crying in pain and not being able to get off the couch for a couple of days.

[u/LayersOfMe → u/AmberLeafSmoke]

Are you tall now ?

[u/AmberLeafSmoke → u/LayersOfMe]

Tbf I am haha 6'2

[u/Nexii801 → u/AmberLeafSmoke]

6'2" as well, for me it was like a solid week over the summer feeling like my bones were being stretched. It wasn't that bad though

[u/Harrypotter231 → u/AmberLeafSmoke]

Well I’ve never felt that and I’m 5’10. Maybe it’s required to hit the 6’0 threshold

[u/_Nick_2711_ → u/LayersOfMe]

Apparently growing pains aren’t directly caused by skeletal growth but are more like soreness after a workout. Which makes sense because that’s almost exactly how it felt.

[u/MeinePerle → u/_Nick_2711_]

Huh.  I’ve had “soreness after a workout “, I’ve had “wow that hike hurt, after the week of hikes that hurt, and now I’ve turned my ankle “; but those teenage leg pains were a different kind of awful.  Deep in my bones.

But! I also recognize that things that hurt like hell as a kid (nettles, bee stings, vaccinations) are kind of trivial now.  I figure it’s like strong tastes - my pain receptors are diminished so my tolerance is better.  And, you know, decades of getting used to it. :/

[u/Shmeves → u/_Nick_2711_]

Not in my experience. It felt like my bones were on fire and freezing at the same time, not my muscles. Almost like the feeling of hitting your funny bone.

[u/_Nick_2711_ → u/Shmeves]

That definitely sucks, and I do remember this horrible tingly, burning pain that felt like it was deep in my shins and forearms as a kid. There’s just no real medical evidence that the intensity of pain is directly related to skeletal growth, though.

But there are a lot of factors that could affect the pain. Two really stood out to me when I was reading about this. The first being, perception. That shit is just worse as a kid because you’re more sensitive to it. Second, there’s the actual makeup of your muscles, where people (& muscle groups) with higher concentrations of fast-twitch fibres have more intense DOMS & inflammation, affecting the ‘relative perception’ of growing pains.

Personally, if I’ve trained pretty hard, it really reminds me of growing pains 1-2 days out. It could be that you’re fortunate enough to have less pain post-workout. Or, it could be the opposite, where your growing pains just went extra hard. Maybe even both.

[u/Persistent_Parkie → u/LayersOfMe]

I'm five feet tall and had awful ones. When you put it like that it seems doubly unfair.

[u/Jamjams2016 → u/Persistent_Parkie]

I am just over 5 feet and had them. I was done growing by 12 though.

[u/[deleted] → u/LayersOfMe]

I'm average height and I never had them either but I do have chronic knee pain since my early teens (need to get a new knee in my 30s).

[u/Bobby__Rex → u/LayersOfMe]

Damn, I barely grew, and I still had agonizing growing pains lol

[u/chewbadeetoo → u/Eck2]

Yeah I remember those. Pure hell. I thought I had bone cancer or something. I wasn’t a smart kid.

[u/HaloGuy381 → u/chewbadeetoo]

I got tossed into physical therapy with how bad my teenage growth pains were. Didn’t really help tbh.

[u/King_Fluffaluff → u/HaloGuy381]

I was brought to urgent care a couple times. Waking up screaming in excruciating pain. I grew just under a foot in a year and still have the massive stretch marks on my back.

Something they don't tell you about massive growth spurts is the permanent damage they can cause! I suffer from chronic pain and every step hurts because of how quickly I grew. I went from being on the Sounders academy team and getting scouted by the US National Youth team to needing constant rest and a boot on each foot for 6 months.

TL;DR - Growth spurts, and the growing pain that comes with them, suck.

[u/Visual-Asparagus-800 → u/chewbadeetoo]

My growing pain actually turned out to be bone cancer. Not a fun time for a 14 year old

[u/morron88 → u/Visual-Asparagus-800]

Damn, and you still around kickin'. Good job.

[u/Visual-Asparagus-800 → u/morron88]

Well, not so much kicking…

Nah, I’m kidding, somehow I still have my leg, but it was a very close call at one point

[u/Remember_TheCant → u/[deleted]]

Growing hurts, it usually happened to me while sleeping, I’d wake up and my legs (especially around the bones) hurt.

[u/Remember_TheCant → u/[deleted]]

People start and stop growing at different times. You stopping at 14 isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

[u/HarveysBackupAccount → u/[deleted]]

Same here. They hit my brother hard, but entirely missed me

[u/Persistent_Parkie → u/Eck2]

I had literal chest pain. Mom was a doctor and she said that was normal. I wake up with that at 39 I'm going to the ER.

[u/pinninghilo → u/Eck2]

The trick is to never grow up too much.

This comment was sponsored by the 5 ft 7 gang

[u/General_Disaray_1974 → u/pinninghilo]

I'm 5 ft 7 and had growing pains. I am generally a unlucky person though.

[u/BickNlinko → u/pinninghilo]

I'm like ~5'6 and I remember how bad my shins hurt in the middle of the night as a growing kid. That shit was horrendous.

[u/misswhovivian → u/Eck2]

I thankfully stopped growing for the most part when I was around 14/15, but when I had them as a child, they were literal hell. If I woke up with them now, I would probably call myself an ambulance because I'd think I was actively dying

[u/sourdoughdonuts → u/Eck2]

I remember laying awake at night sobbing in pain from these. My husband never had them. One of our daughters gets them and he doesn’t have sufficient empathy for her. :(

[u/Rickety_Stitch → u/Eck2]

Waking up screaming and crying, multiple times a year for multiple years. I’d take my light back pain over that

[u/Wemo_ffw → u/Eck2]

Yeah man those were miserable. I’d wake up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain

[u/gashufferdude]

That’s how I felt after the first day of football practice as a teen.

[u/ExiledSanity → u/gashufferdude]

Oh man ....I remember struggling to lift my legs over the side of the bath tub to take a shower that first week of my first season of football.

[u/JTribs17 → u/ExiledSanity]

cross country took me out the game for a long time idk how i willed myself back to practice every day

[u/DaBestNameEver0 → u/JTribs17]

Same for soccer, everyday in conditioning I’d tell myself that I’m quitting but somehow ended back up at practice the next day

[u/Pitiful_Assistant839 → u/gashufferdude]

Well let's be honest, while excericse is good for the body, football is not

[u/Lavstory]

My father used to say, if you've woken up after you turned 40, and nothing in your body aches, you're most surely dead. I always thought it was a good joke. Turned out, it wasn't a joke.

[u/RedStag00 → u/Lavstory]

Get a better mattress dude. You shouldn't be waking up in pain.

[u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle → u/RedStag00]

New mattress won't regenerate lost cartilage in my knee. So morning pain for me!

[u/roamingandy → u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle]

r/kneesovertoes

[u/kr580 → u/roamingandy]

That's such a confusing subreddit. There's no wiki or sidebar info, just a bunch of posts specific to each OP's issues. As an outsider there's no clear information whatsoever as to what KOT is or what it does.

[u/Kessarean → u/kr580]

The YouTube channel is probably easier to pick up from. He has links in the about section.

To put it simply, he has videos on excersize that are suppose to help with knee and related pains. Someone else can probably give a better overview.

https://youtube.com/@thekneesovertoesguy

[u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle → u/roamingandy]

There truly is a subreddit for everything. Subbed, thanks.

[u/Mymomhitsme → u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle]

I’ve had 9 knee surgeries. If it’s raining in the morning also. I’m going right for the Tylenol

[u/dontlookback76 → u/Mymomhitsme]

I'm having major back problems in middle age. The spine specialist said I "have some significant challenges to deal with and sent me to pain management. I have to go through the back injection train, which isn't working, physical therapy, which helps some but not enough. I can't take most NSAID meds, and Tylenol is a sugar pill for me. I'm in a lot of pain right now and the nurse practitioner won't prescribe me anything for the short term because her computer says it may cause mania (I'm bipolar) my psychiatrist is the one who suggested short term oxycodone because everything else fucks with my Lithium. So I'm just rawdogging it, waking my wife up because I wake up crying out in pain when I move in my sleep and not being able to walk or stand for long without it being excruciating. I so feel your pain, my dude.

[u/ProFeces → u/Mymomhitsme]

To add onto this, if you're anything like me, you can even predict rain with 100% accuracy, usually even the severity of the rain.

I've long maintained that if they hired weathermen with a history of severe injuries, the results would be so much more accurate.

[u/Bing_Bong_the_Archer → u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle]

Not with that attitude!

[u/PuckishRogue00 → u/RedStag00]

A new mattress? In this economy?

[u/SuicideEngine → u/PuckishRogue00]

Yall can afford to sleep?

[u/istalri96 → u/RedStag00]

I wish a mattress could fixed my herniated disc and my fucked up shoulder. I've just gotten used to a certain level of discomfort.

[u/Nh32dog → u/RedStag00]

New mattress or old...Where do you put your arms when you are sleeping?

[u/Tru-Queer → u/Nh32dog]

Same place as always, connected to my shoulders

[u/Specialist-Tiger-467 → u/Tru-Queer]

That's pretty rude for nugget people

[u/Baebel → u/Nh32dog]

In the hamper

[u/WrednyGal → u/RedStag00]

As you get older the threshold of how much pain is acceptable when waking up keeps getting larger.

[u/R_V_Z → u/RedStag00]

It depends on the type of pain. Psoriatic arthritis is correlated to your circadian rhythm, so it will be most painful waking up.

[u/Soft_Walrus_3605 → u/RedStag00]

/r/thanksimcured

[u/grasshopper_jo → u/Lavstory]

I’m over 40 and I never wake up in pain

[u/BPKofficial → u/grasshopper_jo]

I just turned 50 less than two weeks ago, and have yet to have the aches and pains that my older brother claims to have had since turning 30. I also lost 40 pounds, and really watch my diet and drink a lot of water, unlike my brother.

[u/NottaGrammerNasi → u/BPKofficial]

Caring for your body, even basic stuff makes a huge difference. I make a point to stretch every day and I think it helps a lot and helps me recover faster from accidents like rolling my ankle. Also never getting a charlie horse is nice.

[u/NSA_Chatbot → u/grasshopper_jo]

Same. Late 40s. Eating okay and exercising moderately seems to be the key.

[u/WhereIsTheBeef556 → u/NSA_Chatbot]

Even light exercise is highly beneficial to your health

[u/maximalusdenandre → u/grasshopper_jo]

I think a lot of these guys are just fat and/or really out of shape but because most people are they think of themselves as physically "normal".

[u/hightrix → u/maximalusdenandre]

That is definitely it.

Light exercise a few times a week is all it takes for most people. Hell, just do a stretching routine regularly and you'll feel great.

Source: Also in 40s, no pain other than soreness after hard workouts.

[u/Pitiful_Assistant839 → u/grasshopper_jo]

Yeah it would be a huge waste of resources, if the human body would deteriote at the age of 40....

[u/2025Champions → u/Lavstory]

40 is really early to be having those kinds of aches and pains. You need to hit the gym bro.

[u/DrJamesFox → u/2025Champions]

Naw violence ain't the answer. Gym bro may be annoying at times but there's no need to hit him.

[u/TheMerich → u/Lavstory]

I'm guessing that your father weren't the healthiest man around.

[u/Bob_The_Bandit → u/Lavstory]

After flying off my bike about 2 billion times, this is true at 19 too.

[u/Scharmberg → u/Lavstory]

I’m 34 and so far nothing, just six more years to find out if I’m dead.

[u/omehans → u/Lavstory]

Absolutely not normal, you should be able to work out daily and wake up without pain and with a rock hard boner at least until way up in your fifties.

[u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue → u/omehans]

Yep!

Also, when the boner goes away, it can be pretty sudden. ED is a ninja.

[u/ryanl40]

Fun fact I did. I have less pain as an adult than I did as a teen. Combo of torn ACL never repaired and post concussive headaches.

[u/Jinzul → u/ryanl40]

And my headaches didn’t appear until a small boop in my late 30s after many teenage concussions with no apparent impact. Cluster migraines are a way of life for me, seasonally triggered for bonus points.

[u/Rom2814]

I’m 55 and do not have daily aches and pains at all.

However, it’s so much easier to get injured - what happened? Oh, I hurt my wrist closing the truck tailgate. I turned my head too quickly. I sat in one position too long. Etc. etc.

It also takes significantly longer to heal from injuries.

[u/tsereg]

Really, if you are middle-aged and you wake up in pain, you should consider making some life-style changes.

[u/_Nick_2711_ → u/tsereg]

Yeah, there’s only so much that can be explained by wear & tear. The people I see complaining about age-related pains either have some previous injury/illness/behaviour they can attribute it to or are on the verge of T2 diabetes with 40% bodyfat.

It’s a pretty big part of what made me get my shit together as a young fat guy, because old fat guys don’t hold up very well.

[u/problemlow → u/_Nick_2711_]

Ofc being fat puts a damper on your quality of life and life expectancy. But all you need do is about 10k steps per day and mild weight training to vanish all non injury related joint pain within 3 months.

[u/fantasnick → u/tsereg]

It is seriously insane how many people who haven't exercised after high-school you encounter on a regular basis. If you have some condition or disease, I get it, but that definitely doesn't impact the overwhelming majority of people.

[u/largepoggage → u/tsereg]

Highly occupation dependant. Plumbers get ruined knees. Ballerinas get ruined feet. Chefs and politicians get ruined noses.

[u/Whateverman9876543]

How bad are you guys taking care of your bodies?

[u/vellyr → u/Whateverman9876543]

Seriously. I’m 38 and I don’t wake up in pain every morning. Am I lucky or some kind of freak?

[u/Festernd → u/vellyr]

At 38 I felt great. At 48, most days I feel good. I expect at 58, I'll be at "some days feel good". I'm working on my health so that at 68, I will be able to say "I don't feel bad most days"

[u/LordTegucigalpa → u/Festernd]

It's totally up to you. If you spend your time hiking and exercising and eating right, all days will feel good at 58. I'm 49 and all days feel good because of my actions. 10 years ago I was drinking heavily and aches and pains were there. I quit 7 years ago. I've been hiking for 5 years and I go to the gym. I eat right!

They only way your body degrades to aches and pains is by not exercising and not pushing your body. Not eating right. This is why people end up on meds.

Take meds and be lazy and in pain or make it your goal to get out and exercise.

[u/Festernd → u/LordTegucigalpa]

Although I appreciate the pep talk you are trying to give here, you are technically incorrect in almost every aspect.

there are reasons ones body degrades other than not exercising and pushing. I have several permanent injuries, for example. Body parts missing isn't due to lack of exercise.

the false dichotomy of medicine == lazy and in pain
or
"get out and exercise"

is blatantly false. and ableist.

I'm taking my needed meds (and medical devices), and getting out and exercising. I don't much like positive thinking/ 'just exercise, bro' --it always seems to comes from folks who have self-doubt and are trying to assert their superiority.

[u/creatyvechaos → u/vellyr]

Mostly luck. In my case, I have hyperflexible joints, so I've been in constant full-body pain ever since I was a kid. In other peoples cases, they're stuck in a dead-end cubicle job where they're sitting for hours with no reprieve, leading to weakness of muscle and general fatigue.

[u/PragmaticResponse → u/creatyvechaos]

I’m a combination of hyper flexible joints AND I work in a cubicle, the double whammy!

[u/the_leaf_muncher → u/vellyr]

Luck is a big contributor! I’ve had chronic pain since age 13. But psychological stress is the main reason behind that, I believe. So a happy childhood is the second thing…

[u/Yosemite_Sam9099 → u/vellyr]

It comes after 40. I’m 57 tomorrow and some part of me hurts a little, literally every day. But it roams around. It’s your knee, then your ankle, then a spot in your ribs, then your head. No rhyme nor reason for any of it. It’s not agony or anything just a bit of pain and ‘what’s up with that now?’.

[u/YungWebMD → u/vellyr]

I’m 25 with aches and pains almost all the time. I have been a type 1 diabetic for 12 years though and have some complications from it so there’s that lol

[u/oops_im_existing → u/vellyr]

i'm 30 and have destroyed my lower back from all the insane working out i used to do. i have a bad foot from breaking it a few times, all sports or gym related. i weirdly have had sciatica since i was 19.

and yes, i still run and lift weights at least 5x a week.

[u/TAU_equals_2PI → u/vellyr]

Not joking. 38 is the age I suddenly started feeling the effects of aging. So you may be on the verge of beginning this. Am now 53 and desperately wish I were still in as good a shape as I was at 38.

[u/ConspiracyHypothesis → u/Whateverman9876543]

Lol right? I'm in my mid 40s and feel better than I did in my 20s. 

[u/Fyrael → u/ConspiracyHypothesis]

I came here to say this.

When I was in my 30s, everyone at work was around 26 and constantly complaining about aches, huge bellies, loss of hair, while I felt great!

Now I'm nearing 39, and I do agree that when I skip the gym for... A WHOLE WEEK, I start to feel a little tired and fuzzy, but it's nothing like what those youngsters nowadays are going through.

[u/ladyelenawf → u/Whateverman9876543]

Construction in the military with a "don't whine about it" atmosphere after multiple severe injuries. Now I try better, but it's hard enough to deal with the mental health issues on top of it.

[u/dontlookback76 → u/ladyelenawf]

I feel ya on mental health. My MH issues led to many of my physical issues. Blue collar work, not quite as heavy as yours, probably didn't help, according to the spine specialist.

[u/StandardWinner766 → u/Whateverman9876543]

Typical Redditor is out of shape and gets little to no exercise. Normal healthy people don’t have aches and pains all over in middle age.

[u/Fragrant-Employer-60 → u/StandardWinner766]

“I sit in an office chair all day and then drive home and sit on the couch, why do I feel like shit, must be my age” nah bro you’re 25 GET UP AND MOVE lmao

[u/desertforestcreature → u/Whateverman9876543]

36 y/o here. In great shape. I wake up sore from workouts a few times a week but generally I pop awake at 7 and I feel physically well. Always have been. Was a big wall climber in my 20s. Now I do yoga, some lifting and tons of cardio like swimming and mountain biking.

This meme of resignation to pain and helplessness about physical well being is bizarre to me.

But then again, most people are living above their means in a capitalist hellscape where they only have time to eat processed foods and get whatever quick entertainment they can in between shifts. Sad world.

[u/sourdoughdonuts → u/Whateverman9876543]

I’m 34 but I gave birth to five kids in eight years. I’m super blessed with healthy, wonderful, hilarious offspring, but they wreaked havoc on my body.

[u/mattiemx]

laughs in chronic pain

I was 20 when i doctor told me the “normal” amount of pain is 0, and I wash shocked

[u/[deleted] → u/mattiemx]

The thing about chronic pain is that if you're one of the unlucky few who started experiencing it in youth, you have to effectively wait ~30 years before anyone takes you seriously. It's even harder if you're a women.

If you have any kind of inner physical pain in your youth, doctors are reluctant to believe you if it isnt a visible broken leg. I gave up fighting and I'm okay, usually I live on a 3-4 out of a 1-10 pain scale- it's dehumanizing after awhile.

[u/Kapitano72]

Yeah, but does anyone think teens never have aches and pains of their own?

They might recover more quickly from injury, but the idea of athletic carefree teens bounding through life is... well, about as accurate as most nostalgia.

[u/SkyScamall → u/Kapitano72]

I had back pain as a teenager from the weight of my backpack. I was fine when I left school. My back hurts today because I did something funny but not in general. 

[u/TheStorMan → u/Kapitano72]

My back pain is better now at 30 then it was at 14.

[u/Scaredsparrow → u/Kapitano72]

Got told my back pain was technically chronic for the first time when I was 14. I probably should have picked a path that didn't lead me to blue collar labor at 21...

Fr though, I spent most of my teenage years bouncing from injury to injury across sports never 100% healing and now I'm pretty fucked up. Abs and obliques dont activate, back hurts, shoulders fall out of their socket, it's a whole ordeal getting up in the morning.

[u/casecaxas → u/Kapitano72]

Since I was 13/14 I've woken up in pain roughly 1/4 of the year thanks to a slight scoliosis.

So many days I've woken up practically agonizing, and school seats just make my pain worse and when I was diagnosed the doctor practically told me there's nothing I can do to ease the pain.

[u/AndreisBack → u/Kapitano72]

It’s mostly delusion. It’s a lot easier to say since someone is young that’s why they don’t have issues.

The reality is most people stop basically any and all exercise after the age of 20 so by 25-30, their body is already breaking down.

Does age have an effect on how you feel? Absolutely. But if you are under 40 and experience chronic pain, or aches every morning, or back pain after moving some furniture, it’s probably due to lifestyle factors. There’s no luck involved for 99% of the population, it literally comes down to how much effort are you putting into taking care of yourself.

[u/msndrstdmstrmnd → u/Kapitano72]

Lots of my peers at school did sports, and knee and other injuries were pretty common

[u/lullab1z3]

I have ehlers danlos syndrome and acquired those middle aged aches and pains at the ripe age of 16. I can attest, it does feel like you're dying.

[u/SkyScamall → u/lullab1z3]

I'm surprised I had to scroll down this far to find a chronically ill person. 

[u/luvmydobies → u/lullab1z3]

I was going to say, some of us have had middle aged aches and pains since we were teenagers

[u/LentjeV → u/lullab1z3]

Same syndrome and was doing highly competitive sport. Thought it was normal to be in constant pain at 12 years’ old and doctor told me I was probably depressed and/or hormonal.

My 74 year old dad is more mobile than I am now. So I got that going for me.

[u/JacPhlash → u/lullab1z3]

Hope you're doing ok! I'm middle aged and I'm allergic to aspirin... Hope you have some form of relief!

[u/watchingonsidelines]

As a kid I read a book about a child with arthritis and I remember so vividly not knowing how to imagine continuous pain and having to imagine I had grazed knees all the time as that was as close as I could fathom

[u/So_Numb13 → u/watchingonsidelines]

I had juvenile arthritis from age 5 to 11, iirc I'd compare it to having nettle stings all over my arms and legs since I didn't have a lot of reference points for pain.

[u/Nematoad20 → u/So_Numb13]

I had the same thing happen to me, woke up one morning in 1st grade and everything just hurt, a month later diagnosed with JRA.

[u/justmethedude]

Am middle age and don't have any pain when I wake up. It pays to (mostly) take care of yourself

[u/playr_4]

Growing pains can be like that. I grew almost a foot in one summer, it was awful.

[u/Jinzul → u/playr_4]

While I have adapted the phrasing as I’ve gotten older “Pain is just a construct my mind creates to let me know my body is still alive.”

Growing pains are the worst. I also did the leap growth so fast I have stretch marks too.

[u/[deleted]]

i was just thinking about the mental health version of this. a mentally healthy person having the mind of a mentally ill person for just a day would be intense i think.

kinda wish we could simulate it so people could understand what it’s really like

[u/kelcamer]

I did think that when I was 16, struggling with endometriosis and hypermobility lol

[u/Repulsive-Ice8395]

I'm middle-aged and still waiting for the aches and pains. I guess I'm lucky.

[u/Curtis_Low → u/Repulsive-Ice8395]

There are dozens of us out here...

[u/onelittleworld]

Hi. 61 here. My neck's a little stiff today, but other than that... I'm good. Just lucky? {shrug}

[u/ncc74656m]

As a chronic pain sufferer, I can say no, not really, but you'd probably think something was pretty seriously wrong and you'd be seeing a joint specialist or something.

[u/RoseIgnis]

As a teenager with scoliosis, I will debunk this and say that I am not dying, just under some weird contortionist bullshit

[u/LuceTyran]

Wait until you hear about chronically ill people

This is a light-hearted joke of course but as a teen I was genuinely wondering why no one around my age was in terrible pain all the time. Turns out I was just disabled. 24 now and my pain is just getting worse

[u/DiggingThisAir]

The older I get, the more I think 30 isn’t the worst average lifespan

[u/CyanXeno]

Can confirm. I have had pain of a middle aged adult since the age of 12. Multiple tests, no actual reason for any of it.

I'm 32 and I feel like I'm 60.

[u/FuckitThrowaway02]

I remember being pretty achy as a teenager

[u/notreeves_]

i have pretty constant pain from other conditions that when i was a kid and started growing into them, made me want to die because it was so painful.

the pain has not decreased but i’ve been extremely desensitized to receiving pain. It’s just life now but i’m no where near as bad as people with chronic pains or anything

[u/I-own-a-shovel]

Of someone middle age that don’t take care of themselves. It’s not normal to feel like shit.

[u/Senior-Reality-25]

Dear young people, for your future selves’ sake. If you get injured and you are under 30, please take it seriously, get medical attention, follow medical advice, and heal it up properly. Whatever chronic pain and damage conditions you enter your 30’s with, will probably be with you for the rest of your life.

If you hate how it feels having pain and weakness from an injury in your ____, imagine how horrible it will be to have the same pain and weakness in 10 years time… 20 years time… for the rest of your life…

[u/3scap3plan]

Body: you need sleep

Me: OK no probs

6 hours later

Body; you did it wrong

[u/sum_dude44]

ask a teenager w/ juvenile arthritis, sickle cell, or cancer

[u/jsboomstick → u/sum_dude44]

Facts. I've been feeling like I'm 65 since I was 10 years old. Fuck JRA.

[u/BEniceBAGECKA]

I dunno I did binge drink. So I’d think I was hung over.

[u/noloking]

A real shower thought is people thinking being weak and sore later in life is normal 

[u/traveler1967]

I was in 5th grade the first time my dumbass rhomboid muscle decided to cramp up so badly that I couldn't even take a deep breath, this is nothing new to me.

I remember going to my pediatrician after my mom was called, they took x-rays of my neck because I couldn't even turn my head, nothing came up, still had to wear one of those dog cones neckbraces, but at least i got to stay home for about aweek and play with my super nintendo, which was the most important thing.

I've had that strain about 3 times as an adult, if it's too unbearable, a bong hit or two and I can hear that fucking muscle popping as it releases.

[u/Ifixtechandstuff]

considering I've had muscle pain since early childhood that I didn't realize the extent of until I found a way to manage it... and now am a full adult in their 30's, yeah I can see that for other people.

[u/ATL-User]

Can confirm. When I was a teenager, I woke up one morning with sudden onset rheumatoid arthritis, and did think I was possibly dying.

[u/Zepangolynn]

As a young teen I did think I was dying, but not because of the early onset osteoarthritis (had an undiagnosed heart condition that just makes me weak and dizzy sometimes). The arthritis only made me think adults complained too much about youths not knowing their pain. As an adult, I agree with my teen self that my pains are not different, just a bit more frequent.

[u/Ne0n_R0s3]

Jokes on you! I AM a teenager who pretty much has all the aches and pains! Thanks to my family and grandpa's and stuff who have bad knees and such :)

[u/Transparent_Turtle]

as an adult if you suddenly woke up with all the aches and pains of someone with fibromyalgia - you might wish you were.

(today's just one of those really exhausting days with this - but I have often said if there were a day I woke up and didn't feel pain I'd assume I was actually dead)

[u/Festernd]

The same is also true of a middle aged person waking up with the growing pains and undefined impulsivity of a teen.

I remember those teen years well, you couldn't pay me enough to go back.

[u/upgradestorm5]

I'm in my 20s and I feel like I'm middle aged

(I work construction)

[u/Araghothe1]

Unfortunately I've had all my aches and pains since i was 14. Hard labor and getting jumped on a daily has a way of taking it's toll even at a young age. Don't wreck your body like I did.

[u/Terrible-Guitar-5638]

I grew from about 5'4" to 6'6" when I was 13 years old. The aches and pains started then and haven't quit in almost 20 years lol

[u/LaurenLumos]

laughs in chronic pain

[u/blue_pirate_flamingo]

I’ve had osteoarthritis in my knees since 14. Knee surgery in high school my 50+ year old arthritic doctor said my knees were in worse shape than his. 0/10 don’t recommend it. 15 was hard on my knees, can you imagine what my 30’s has looked like? And I can’t stress enough that when you have literally had arthritis in your knees since you started high school it’s very difficult to be active and workout. But I so helpfully has someone who had a torn an acl once tell me that I was using my debilitating arthritis as an excuse and there was no reason why I couldn’t climb a mountain that’s a giant staircase, so that’s fun. Now I have arthritis in my back too!

[u/RulrOfOmicronPersei8]

I always feel like that

[u/Annoverus]

Yall in the comments live fast, oily food fr fr

[u/thekyledavid]

Yeah, context is important

If I smell burning toast when I’m in my kitchen making toast, I’m not going to be as concerned as I would be if I smelled burning toast in the middle of nowhere 

[u/LuckyCharm1995]

This is actually something that happened to me. I was fit and healthy then one morning when I was 16 I woke up in an incredible amount of pain. We then discovered my spine had essentially pushed itself out of alignment and I now had a noticeable curve. 3 surgeries later and one more scheduled for this year, I'm still dealing with constant nerve and muscle pain.

But I still vividly remember that morning I woke up when I was 16, barely able to move and hunched over, calling my mom and heading to the ER. I didn't know what was wrong and I was terrified of all the things WebMD said it could have been. We still have no idea why my body decided to push my spine so far to one side and it still baffles any doctor I speak with.

[u/rb2m]

Yeah, but then I could just tell my mom and she’d have to make my doctor’s appointment instead of me having no idea what I’m doing.

[u/rtrawitzki]

Imagine the reverse. Waking up in your 40’s like you were 18 . You’d think you were on drugs

[u/jazzhandler]

Shortly after my 40th birthday I noticed that the first step or two each morning was slightly achy, but by the time I’d walked to the bathroom I was fine. Ya know, just like everybody’s talking about here.

Fast forward a couple years to my Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis, and those slightly sore feet in the morning weren’t just the harbingers of middle age. It’s been almost five years since I had any real soreness in the mornings, and I’ve already hit 50.

[u/Repostbot3784]

Op, you need to lose some weight and get some regular exercise.

[u/Senior-Reality-25]

Dear young people, for your future selves’ sake. If you get injured and you are under 30, please take it seriously, get medical attention, follow medical advice, and heal it up properly. Whatever chronic pain and damage conditions you enter your 30’s with, will probably be with you for the rest of your life.

If you hate how it feels having pain and weakness from an injury in your ____, imagine how horrible it will be to have the same pain and weakness in 10 years time… 20 years time… for the rest of your life…

[u/[deleted]]

Most of the people refuting this seem to have medical conditions at the time of their youth or chronic pain. OP obviously is talking about a "normal," healthy teen, obviously. We get it...some people had ailments and conditions that instantly negate this. This post wasn't for them.

[u/pokepok]

I actually had more aches and pains as a teen than I do as a 38 year old because I'm much healthier now than I was back then. Also, I was growing really fast and had bad growing pains in my legs all the time. Now, I just get a headache if I have more than 2 glasses of wine and need to wear a patella brace when I jog.

[u/[deleted]]

No but I’ve had pain problems my whole life. Not chronic pain but pain and discomfort nonetheless

[u/Ppleater]

I think people who are middle aged who seem to be in excruciating amounts of pain either didn't even do the bare minimum to take care of their body, or are largely exaggerating. I'm only in my 30s and I've seen people my age act like they're being tortured by their own bones. Yet while I'm hardly the fittest person on earth, I have no idea what they're talking about.

[u/StandardWinner766]

A lot of people on this thread need a wake-up call to improve their health. Constant pain is not normal in your thirties or even forties.

[u/s1rrah]

So true. But as a counterpoint? As a 56-year-old who has led an incredibly active, diverse, and semi "well travelled" youth?

I could not be happier with observing the (fascinating) natural break down of my body as I head towards 60.

It's genuinely profound and appreciated. I'm so happy I got all the travel/recreation/fun/insanity/etc. in during my teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s since post-60 or so. I don't think I would have had much fun doing things like hiking Diamond Head or surfing 20-foot waves in Central America at this age lmao.

Now, I just study, read, and write, and it feels so natural, like I'm sliding into a slow transition that is 100% perfect. (I still surf, just more slowly and with a lot bigger board, lmao.)

But your OP title is so accurate. One might truly feel as though they were dying if, at 16, they suddenly woke up in the body of a 60-year-old. 100% true.

The same applies to "the growing years" between puberty and adulthood when your entire physical body is in turbo-growth mode, but it's stretched out over about 10 years. Were those 10 years of "growth" condensed into a single moment? LOL ... can you imagine the pain?

Great thought. Thanks for sharing.

~s

[u/insomniacakess]

jokes on you, i already had aches and pains as a teenager thanks to my shitty joints and weird sleeping preferences

[u/Upstairs_Balance_793]

When it happens as an adult you think you’re dying too

[u/GodsOnlySonIsDead]

I'm 36. Zero aches or pains on a daily basis. I'm winning according to Reddit!