Junior athletes and Osgood-Schlatter disease?

[wildcatden]

Any juniors here have Osgood-Schlatter Disease (OSD) as they went through growth spurts?   Generally, OSD is knee pain that is related to growth spurts and is treated with rest, ice and possibly wearing a knee sleeve as a protection.  My kid is pretty active at school recess and plays baseball and football in addition to golf.  He first felt pain in his right knee (right handed golf swing) while playing in a tournament that we had to withdraw.  We iced a few days and took a couple weeks off.  Was fine and playing golf again, going to workout classes, but now feels the pain again after doing box jumps at his workout class tonight.

 

Just curious if others went through this and any advice appreciated.

 

Reference info: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/osgoodschlatter-disease

 

"Osgood-Schlatter disease is a condition that causes pain and swelling below the knee joint, where the patellar tendon attaches to the top of the shinbone (tibia), a spot called the tibial tuberosity. There may also be inflammation of the patellar tendon, which stretches over the kneecap. Osgood-Schlatter disease is most commonly found in young athletes who play sports that require a lot of jumping and/or running."

[leezer99]

My son has had a few instances of knee pain over the years but we just called it 'growing pains', gave him an ice pack and let him rest a day or so.  Never actually diagnosed though.  

[Gsea]

Had it as a kid. Not a big deal just avoid things like over use during flare ups. Played D1 ball so its no OMG thing.  Box jumps, might want to avoid that all together tho. Just play. Did need the knee cleaned out much later in life tho.

[heavy_hitter]

Try a Cho-Pat Knee strap.  My kid has runners knee and it seems to alleviate the pain when walking.

 

 

[BloctonGolf11]

34 minutes ago, heavy_hitter said:

Try a Cho-Pat Knee strap.  My kid has runners knee and it seems to alleviate the pain when walking.

 

 

Backing up Heavy here. Try a patella support strap, it is typically better than a sleeve and can help a lot of things. As well, watch the heavy slamming exercises such as stadiums (which are a dumb exercise anyway) and box jumps. 

[MB19]

I had OSD in junior high when I got heavy into basketball, and it stayed with me through early HS until I stopped growing.  Looking back, it went away when I decided to drop football going into my junior year of HS.  Maybe my body just needed a break from playing three sports?  My knees were tender to the touch back then, and that came back later in college playing large doses of pickup games without proper stretching--I wore the aforementioned knee strap (plus they were cool because Glenn Rice used to rock it) and it helped a lot.

[Golfingdawg19]

10 hours ago, wildcatden said:

Any juniors here have Osgood-Schlatter Disease (OSD) as they went through growth spurts?   Generally, OSD is knee pain that is related to growth spurts and is treated with rest, ice and possibly wearing a knee sleeve as a protection.  My kid is pretty active at school recess and plays baseball and football in addition to golf.  He first felt pain in his right knee (right handed golf swing) while playing in a tournament that we had to withdraw.  We iced a few days and took a couple weeks off.  Was fine and playing golf again, going to workout classes, but now feels the pain again after doing box jumps at his workout class tonight.

 

Just curious if others went through this and any advice appreciated.

 

Reference info: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/osgoodschlatter-disease

 

"Osgood-Schlatter disease is a condition that causes pain and swelling below the knee joint, where the patellar tendon attaches to the top of the shinbone (tibia), a spot called the tibial tuberosity. There may also be inflammation of the patellar tendon, which stretches over the kneecap. Osgood-Schlatter disease is most commonly found in young athletes who play sports that require a lot of jumping and/or running."

My buddy's daughter is going through something like this. He had to shut her down and its been going on for 6 months now. She hits balls and its ok but when she bends over to put a tee in or get the ball out of the hole is where the pain is. He got an exemption for our local tour for her to ride in a cart. All you can do is rehab the injured area and do exercises to strengthen it. Just bide your time and work on the game in short spurts.

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

If there are any doubts as well see an ortho and even a PT.

 

Daughter was having major knee issues last fall.  She quit playing for a month because of the pain.  We got MCL or something probably.  Went to a great knee ortho.  Two actually couldn't find anything.

 

Seen a PT and discovered she was rotating on her left side.  The right was the taking the worst of it.

[heavy_hitter]

On 1/14/2022 at 10:08 AM, BloctonGolf11 said:

Backing up Heavy here. Try a patella support strap, it is typically better than a sleeve and can help a lot of things. As well, watch the heavy slamming exercises such as stadiums (which are a dumb exercise anyway) and box jumps. 

One more thing on top of this.  Get him some better insoles for his shoes than what comes in them.  Dr. Scholl's are great.  You can get the knee pain or runners and both would help reduce some of the shock from walking.

[leezer99]

8 minutes ago, heavy_hitter said:

One more thing on top of this.  Get him some better insoles for his shoes than what comes in them.  Dr. Scholl's are great.  You can get the knee pain or runners and both would help reduce some of the shock from walking.

Superfeet FTW

[Movingday]

10 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

Superfeet FTW

Damn those cost as much as the shoes 

[heavy_hitter]

29 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

Superfeet FTW

You know how many pairs of shoes I have.  With Plantars I would need minimum 12 pairs of insoles.

[gripandrip]

Sorry to hear this. As a young athlete I had this condition, and got to the point of having my knee taped before every basketball game and track event with athletic tape. Not much available back in the late 60s/early 70's when I had it. I developed a rather large "bump" under my kneecap that is still with me today. The pain of the injury stopped after I was through my growth spurts. It doesn't bother me at all now, but the bump has never gone away. I have it in both knees, but the left is more prevalent as it was my jump-off leg. There seemed to be no apparent treatment other that rest and icing. I was told (but many years ago) that there was not much you could do to prevent it if you were determined to stay active. I continued to play sports, and just worked through the pain with rest and ice.

 

Good luck. Hopefully the growth spurt causing the discomfort passes quickly.

 

[bellairemi]

I had it and then my son also did.  His orthopedic said jumping was the primary aggravator so he stopped basketball (it was out of season) for about a month on several occasions.  If he was only playing golf (no basketball or basketball related training), the OS related pain was no worse than that caused by walking.

[wildcatden]

Lots of great responses and information in the replies. Thanks very much. So far, just icing it seems to take care of any flare-ups and they are gone the next day. I did pickup one of those patellar straps at the local CVS.  In addition, he is going to be doing some stretching exercises as recommended by his doctor.

 

Today, he had baseball tryouts and then we went to the range later for a bucket. No issues.  And we even made sure to get some speed sticks work in since he is obviously in a growth spurt.

[MB19]

On 1/15/2022 at 11:51 AM, gripandrip said:

Sorry to hear this. As a young athlete I had this condition, and got to the point of having my knee taped before every basketball game and track event with athletic tape. Not much available back in the late 60s/early 70's when I had it. I developed a rather large "bump" under my kneecap that is still with me today. The pain of the injury stopped after I was through my growth spurts. It doesn't bother me at all now, but the bump has never gone away. I have it in both knees, but the left is more prevalent as it was my jump-off leg. There seemed to be no apparent treatment other that rest and icing. I was told (but many years ago) that there was not much you could do to prevent it if you were determined to stay active. I continued to play sports, and just worked through the pain with rest and ice.

 

Good luck. Hopefully the growth spurt causing the discomfort passes quickly.

 

We finally get to see a little leg on these forums--nice.

[Gsea]

On 1/15/2022 at 11:51 AM, gripandrip said:

Sorry to hear this. As a young athlete I had this condition, and got to the point of having my knee taped before every basketball game and track event with athletic tape. Not much available back in the late 60s/early 70's when I had it. I developed a rather large "bump" under my kneecap that is still with me today. The pain of the injury stopped after I was through my growth spurts. It doesn't bother me at all now, but the bump has never gone away. I have it in both knees, but the left is more prevalent as it was my jump-off leg. There seemed to be no apparent treatment other that rest and icing. I was told (but many years ago) that there was not much you could do to prevent it if you were determined to stay active. I continued to play sports, and just worked through the pain with rest and ice.

 

Good luck. Hopefully the growth spurt causing the discomfort passes quickly.

 

100% had both leg bumps as an adult. My left also was very painful as I got much older because it stretches tendon etc. Ortho went in and shaved the bone, bump is about half the size it was but living large now.

[gripandrip]

1 minute ago, Gsea said:

100% had both leg bumps as an adult. My left also was very painful as I got much older because it stretches tendon etc. Ortho went in and shaved the bone, bump is about half the size it was but living large now.

My below the knee bumps don't cause me any pain... and I've now past the 60 (gasp) threshold. Hopefully I won't have issues in the future. That process doesn't sound too pleasant.

[RmoorePE]

Durable knees and ankles are such a blessing. My family is lucky in that the weightlifting coach at our public school has PT training and is always on the cutting edge for youth fitness. Not one of your classic old school coaches that has been doing the same course every year for 30 years. He believes his role in life is to keep kids as healthy as possible.

 

He does a lot of knee and ankle active therapies in his classes with athletes in them, with the biggest two being they have to walk backwards around the track and nordic curls (assisted). What he likes to do is light exercises that work stretched knee tendons. He tells me he wants the most blood flow to the muscles around the knees as he can get during active therapy. Every kid who competes in an event the night before has a knee therapy at the beginning of class. He is a great asset to the community.

 

I recommend you look up Knee Ability Zero (Ben Patrick), I use many of the exercises every other day or so, and I still get sore knees after basketball games but I can work them (like self therapy) back to feeling good within 24 hours. I played hoops last night and did all my phone calls walking backwards on the treadmill this AM. Knees are already back to good, blood flow is a good thing.

[wildcatden]

As a follow up to this topic, I wanted to post some more information for others based upon our experience.

 

• My junior boy (age 11) experiences the OSD pain in both knees at times. Originally, it started in just the right knee.  At times, he may feel it in the left or even both at the same time.
• We now own two patella straps in case both knees hurting.
• He does attend workout classes (TPI-like) designed for golf. He avoids box jumps altogether.

Overall, he manages the pain with rest and ice as we try to stay away from meds (ibuprofen) in general.   Full swings are what hurts the most so he spends more time on short game when he practices.  I should note that squatting down to read putts is also painful at times.  A visit with the doctor a short while ago confirmed the diagnosis again and that there isn't much to do about it other then hope he grows out of it.

 

It's certainly difficult as a parent watching him go through this. His club head speed certainly suffers from  the OSD pain....not having the ability to practice and not wanting to swing too hard for fear of the pain. Truly a double edged sword.

 

[heavy_hitter]

41 minutes ago, wildcatden said:

As a follow up to this topic, I wanted to post some more information for others based upon our experience.

 

• My junior boy (age 11) experiences the OSD pain in both knees at times. Originally, it started in just the right knee.  At times, he may feel it in the left or even both at the same time.
• We now own two patella straps in case both knees hurting.
• He does attend workout classes (TPI-like) designed for golf. He avoids box jumps altogether.

Overall, he manages the pain with rest and ice as we try to stay away from meds (ibuprofen) in general.   Full swings are what hurts the most so he spends more time on short game when he practices.  I should note that squatting down to read putts is also painful at times.  A visit with the doctor a short while ago confirmed the diagnosis again and that there isn't much to do about it other then hope he grows out of it.

 

It's certainly difficult as a parent watching him go through this. His club head speed certainly suffers from  the OSD pain....not having the ability to practice and not wanting to swing too hard for fear of the pain. Truly a double edged sword.

 

That really stinks.  I know several of our kids in this forum has had several injuries and diseases that have held them back including mine.  Hope it all works out for him and once he stops growing the pains stop.  

[RmoorePE]

Hate to hear of knee pain at 11 years old. 

 

Hard to get a kid to do PT at that age as well. 

 

Maybe if you make it fun somehow. I strongly recommend dragging a weight while walking backwards for lower knee pain. I just have a rope I loop around my waist and drag a 2X12 with a couple 45# plates on it. The movement stretches/strengthens the tibialis and lower knee tendons. I get really sore lower knee tendons and that simple task for 5 minutes helps almost instantly. You could also just have him drag you providing resistance. It loads the knee tendon just a little bit, but increases blood flow for healing.

 

My wife makes fun of me, but I have gotten home from a basketball game at 10 pm and she sees me walking back and forth backwards past the living room window in the dark. But the difference in being able to sleep, or having knee pain keep me up all night is worth it.

 

R.I.C.E. is outdated. Rest has been replaced with gentle movement to keep good blood moving through the inflamed area. Ice is for pain relief.

 

[leezer99]

33 minutes ago, RmoorePE said:

Hate to hear of knee pain at 11 years old. 

 

Hard to get a kid to do PT at that age as well. 

 

Maybe if you make it fun somehow. I strongly recommend dragging a weight while walking backwards for lower knee pain. I just have a rope I loop around my waist and drag a 2X12 with a couple 45# plates on it. The movement stretches/strengthens the tibialis and lower knee tendons. I get really sore lower knee tendons and that simple task for 5 minutes helps almost instantly. You could also just have him drag you providing resistance. It loads the knee tendon just a little bit, but increases blood flow for healing.

 

My wife makes fun of me, but I have gotten home from a basketball game at 10 pm and she sees me walking back and forth backwards past the living room window in the dark. But the difference in being able to sleep, or having knee pain keep me up all night is worth it.

 

R.I.C.E. is outdated. Rest has been replaced with gentle movement to keep good blood moving through the inflamed area. Ice is for pain relief.

 

Even using ice has become controversial in recovery.

[wildcatden]

4 hours ago, RmoorePE said:

Hate to hear of knee pain at 11 years old. 

 

Hard to get a kid to do PT at that age as well. 

 

Maybe if you make it fun somehow. I strongly recommend dragging a weight while walking backwards for lower knee pain. I just have a rope I loop around my waist and drag a 2X12 with a couple 45# plates on it. The movement stretches/strengthens the tibialis and lower knee tendons. I get really sore lower knee tendons and that simple task for 5 minutes helps almost instantly. You could also just have him drag you providing resistance. It loads the knee tendon just a little bit, but increases blood flow for healing.

 

My wife makes fun of me, but I have gotten home from a basketball game at 10 pm and she sees me walking back and forth backwards past the living room window in the dark. But the difference in being able to sleep, or having knee pain keep me up all night is worth it.

 

R.I.C.E. is outdated. Rest has been replaced with gentle movement to keep good blood moving through the inflamed area. Ice is for pain relief.

 

I’ll have him give it a try. 

[MRx747]

Not sure if it’s the same thing, my 10 year old played a two day tournament in heavy rain 2 weeks ago and told us about his knee hurting day after, we took him to the local specialist and he said the X-ray came back with a small bone growing in one of his knees and it’s normal for kids his age because they are growing. Sold us a strap or brace thing with a soft plastic bump with some dots on the inside my kid is suppose to strap around the part of his knee that feels pain. This lasted 2-3 days, and it went away. Oh he did mention to use a heat pack instead of icing it. Hope this helps. He is back fully doing everything and haven’t felt the pain since. 

[Jc0]

On 9/21/2022 at 1:17 PM, wildcatden said:

As a follow up to this topic, I wanted to post some more information for others based upon our experience.

 

• My junior boy (age 11) experiences the OSD pain in both knees at times. Originally, it started in just the right knee.  At times, he may feel it in the left or even both at the same time.
• We now own two patella straps in case both knees hurting.
• He does attend workout classes (TPI-like) designed for golf. He avoids box jumps altogether.

Overall, he manages the pain with rest and ice as we try to stay away from meds (ibuprofen) in general.   Full swings are what hurts the most so he spends more time on short game when he practices.  I should note that squatting down to read putts is also painful at times.  A visit with the doctor a short while ago confirmed the diagnosis again and that there isn't much to do about it other then hope he grows out of it.

 

It's certainly difficult as a parent watching him go through this. His club head speed certainly suffers from  the OSD pain....not having the ability to practice and not wanting to swing too hard for fear of the pain. Truly a double edged sword.

 

 

I had this around the same age because of how fast I was growing. He should grow out of it but it may take a few years. Have you considered having him go to physical therapy for it? Good knee strength and stability will help relive a bit of the stress and would be good for his knees in the long term. A golf specific training class isn't going to give him that. 

[Ray Jackson]

On 1/14/2022 at 7:08 AM, BloctonGolf11 said:

Backing up Heavy here. Try a patella support strap, it is typically better than a sleeve and can help a lot of things. As well, watch the heavy slamming exercises such as stadiums (which are a dumb exercise anyway) and box jumps. 

Backing up the ones before here, my son has just started wearing this, mainly on his right knee (right handed golfer) during walking rounds and he say's it immediately resolves the pain.