<p>Anyone’s kiddo ever have it? How long did it take your child to grow out of it? The doctor said it will hurt to run on it but no damage is done by doing so.
Anything else I should know?</p>
<p>My daughter was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatters when she was 12. She played soccer until she was 15 without any problems. She is now 18 and runs regularly, although she finds her knees do bother her if she overdoes it.</p>
<p>My sister had it when she was in middle school. She has no lingering problems, but her knees bother her sometimes and her leg bothers her when it gets cold (although that’s because it was broken in 2 places last year).</p>
<p>My daughter - not so lucky. She turned 12 in August and went to 7th grade. Grew 6 " that year. Began with knee pain in the winter during basketball which continued into spring with track.
She played sports all year round since she was like 6 years old.
She was in and out of physical therapy and continued to grow.<br>
She even had knee surgery at age 15 - arthroscopy and open lateral release. More PT.
Long story short. She is now 18 and can do normal everyday activities without knee pain and swelling. She did have to quit athletics all together at age 15.<br>
We even went to Thomas Jefferson in Philly.
A year ago she sat in the surgeons office asking for a knee replacement.
At age 16 she could not do three days in Disney world. I found her in Epcot sitting on a bench with ice bags on her knees that she had gotten from first aid.</p>
<p>We have been told her knees should improve until she is about 21 or fully mature.
Many kids don’t have any or much pain but if the pain persists - do not have your child play through it. My daughter was ENCOURAGED to play through pain for three years. Nothing good came of it.</p>
<p>Not to be discouraging or scare you but there could be other structural problems other than O-S if there is severe pain and/or swelling.</p>
<p>From my friend whose 3 kids had it - their orthopedic doctor required his patients sit out basketball season as he believes it is the the hardest on the knees, medicate before other sport activities and and when the child says they want to sit instead of playing, they need sit.</p>
<p>Hope your daughter has a mild case.</p>
<p>I have had it since I turned about 10. While it never stopped me from running, playing football or baseball, it was a constant pain and irritation. Until I blew out my knee and need a complete surgical repair, it did not improve.
However, my doctor did say that it is a fairly normal diagnosis for teenagers involved in a lot of running and is usually grown out of by the age of 16.</p>
<p>It’s my 14 y.o. late-blooming, xc-running son who was diagnosed with it. He still has a ton of growing to do which will happen at some point. He has sporadic pain and swelling. The pain and swelling don’t always happen but sometimes they will occur after an easier workout. I wish he was willing to sit out a season.</p>
<p>Motherdear - my advice (take it or leave it!) is -
take him to a Sports Medicine physician. Perhaps one in an orthopedic group but one who definitely had experience treating adolescents. If you haven’t found one then ask the HS athletic trainer or other parents.</p>
<p>He should have a complete evaluation including the dr watching him walk. Orthotics can sometimes help. Sometimes kids are knock kneed as well.</p>
<p>Other things can happen - the plica (fatty pad below the knee cap) can be irritated as well as the IT band.<br>
There is a point at which it all moves from acute to chronic. when that happens he probably should quit all activity for a season, at least.
I seriously think not quitting soon enough led to my daughter’s long long term problems.</p>
<p>O-S is really variable. Some kids have it for just a few months and get over it while others end up with a whole bunch of problems.</p>
<p>O-S will not require surgery. JustAMom, your D’s ordeal is awful. I hope she improves. But she must have other knee problems beyond the O-S.</p>
<p>Correct - O-S, itself does not require surgery.</p>
<p>The reason I suggested seeing a specialist is that there are other problems that can occur as a result of growing too fast, in conjunction with O-S.
While O-S is self limiting - if you continue to treat the pain and swelling assuming it will go away, it may not.</p>
<p>Some kids who grow too fast and get O-S also find their knee caps tilt because the ligaments on the side of the knee didn’t grow as fast. This is what happened to my daughter</p>
<p>She also had chondromalacia, IT band syndrome and chronically inflammed plica. One result of her growing too fast was that her Retinaculum was too short in one leg (a ligament that runs on the outside of the knee) causing her knee cap to tilt. She had an arthroscopy to examine the structure and scrape the plica and an open lateral release where the surgeon release (snipped) the retinaculum.
The surgery was 3 years ago - I finally noticed a big improvement in her everyday activities just this past summer. A year ago when looking for colleges she was hesitant to look at any schools with a big campus, esp with a lot of hills or walk up dorms.</p>
<p>So - yeah, there are a whole host of things that can cause knee cap pain.
Probably none of which will affect Motherdear’s son.</p>
<p>yes, I would like to clear up that my O-S did not require surgery. It was a football ordeal, however, after my surgery and therapy I was no longer affected by O-S. I am not reccommending surgery by any means!</p>
<p>I have had it since I was 11. I have a pretty severe form of it, as it acts up quite frequently. I am now 17 but have not “grown out” of it. I have had surgery twice because of it and can no longer play sports at a high school level because the pain is so bad. </p>
<p>Between the ages of 11 and 17, I grew nearly a foot and have since stopped growing so I am hoping it clears up. However, I have had additional problems such as breaking that part of my knee, so I cannot say definitively what is from the OS and what is from that.</p>
<p>My neighbor’s son had it. Made it very painful for him to play his position (catcher) in baseball. He outgrew it after about 2 years.</p>
<p>S2 has it in 7th grade (12-13 yrs old). Was very painful during football season that year. Some mornings it was hard to get out of bed and down the stairs. Just walking around was not as painful. He took over -the -counter pain meds and wore those “knee straps” for football. By the end of the school year, it had stopped bothering him. He went on to play football all through high school with no knee problems.</p>
<p>Youngest son dealt with it for a couple of years during middle school. His issues were ankles, not knees, a chronic ache made worse by x-country and soccer. We just did what we could to lessen all other impact stresses - good shoes and insoles, some physical therapy to make sure he had proper stretching techniques and lots and lots of ice. He would occasionally use lightweight ankle braces as they did seem to help (maybe it was a mental thing). We saved the over the counter meds for games and races. Sometimes he just had to opt out for a day or two for a bit of relief.</p>
<p>Fortunately it did run it’s course. He’s still growing, but the rate has slowed way down.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing all your experiences.</p>
<p>Our boy turned 14 in April. Due to the pathetic genes on the part of his parents :), he is a late bloomer as was his sibling. He is just starting puberty and really hasn’t had a growth spurt yet much to his dismay. He knows that boys start later than girls and that the guys in the family are short but not abnormally short but his height or lack thereof still irritates him to no end. BTW, he would love to grow a foot in a year like one of the posters.</p>
<p>He reffed 4 tournament soccer games on Mem Day Sat and was hurt when I picked him up. He saw the trainer who was on duty at the fields and was given ice and told to elevate. On the Sunday when he was supposed to ref 4 more, he could not run and he had to cancel. I talked to the trainer who was moonlighting at the tournament from his DI college athletic trainer position. The trainer mentioned the phrase Osgood-Slaughter.</p>
<p>My kid’s summer was noneventful. He swam for our summer league and had no problems. He also did major hikes through BSA, again no issues. The knee started acting up when xc practice started in August. I took him back to the ped. and also talked to the coaches and trainers at the high school. Nobody thinks he needs PT. If his knee is killing him, he does do an alternative workout in the training room which involves lots of stretching and no impact to the leg. He sees the trainers every day before practice.</p>
<p>We do invest in really good running shoes and spikes. We have a lot of distance runners in the family so we do realize the importance of proper support, fit, etc. The trainer recommended to NOT use a knee brace.</p>
<p>Did I mention he wants to pole-vault during the track seasons? Nothing like impacting from 10+ feet in the air even on a cushy mat…</p>
<p>Ohhhhhhhhhh Motherdear…
What do I know? I am just a mom who has had a child endure years of physical therapy, several MRI’s, cortisone shots, lubricant shots and 3 different doctors in two cities.</p>
<p>If your son’s knees hurt please take him to a sports medicine doctor. Especially if they have been hurting for more than a week or two. It may take a couple of weeks to get an appointment anyway. The physician will give him a thorough exam of his knees and evaluate his gate. He may recommend orthotics and recommend running shoes and perhaps a knee brace.
In my limited experience strengthening the quads has a very positive effect in reducing knee pain. Physical Therapy can work wonders.
Hopefully, the physician will provide reassurance and at least a starting point if knee pain occurs again (or other sports injury). If there is something amiss then you can begin to fix it.</p>
<p>S1 has been dealing with “runner’s knee” for about a month now. He’s in training for a big event that happens next week and was desperate for help/relief. He saw an Orthopedic Dr. who refused to give him a cortisone injection and recommened S1 go to the physical therapy dept. at his university. </p>
<p>S1 took the advice and has been going regularly. The PT people put a steroidal cream/gel on his knee and then attach electrodes that provide heat/muscle stimulation. He was told it has the same effect as a cortisone injection. S1 was dubious at first but has been pleased with the improvement. His pain is almost gone. He can give the knee a big rest after next weeks big run (crosses fingers for a great run time).</p>
<p>PackMom -glad to hear it. while everyone hears about the pro athlete getting that cortisone shot during a game - this is not best practice. Most physicians treat for a while before considering cortisone shots - especially in kids.</p>
<p>Physical therapy can work wonders. When there is a knee injury the quad can actually atrophy. I have seen my daughter on the exam table and her dr will ask her to tighten her quad and nothing happens. The network of messages from the brain to the quad stops working. Electrical stimulation actually stimulates the muscle and gets it working again. Some athletic trainers use stim as well - my daughter got in in the training room in high school.
The key is to get the quad strengthened and working again. This takes the stress off the other parts of the knee.
I hope he improves.</p>
<p>Motherdear,
O-S is often diagnosed by the presence of a bony prominence just below the knee at the top of the shin. It is often unilateral. Many years ago casts were applied to limit use and therefore pain. The current philosophy is that use will not cause damage, NSAIDs can help, activity is only limited by what the patient can tolerate.
I would recommend and orthopedic consult, preferably with a pediatric orthopod. You may or may not have x-rays ordered, but trainers should not be diagnosing!</p>