Osgood-Schlatter

[philippeR]

That's what philippeR Jr (12) has been diagnosed with. No sport for 60 days and we'll see you later.
I've talked to the ortho (two actualy), and read a lot of stuff on the internets. I'm quite Osgood-Schlatter savy now.

But some first hand experiences from a skier perspective would really help me.

Any maggot willing to share ?

[backcountry1pr]

have him tape that shit up and play thru it. (semi serious)

I had it in both legs/knees (whatever) all thru hs. Was most active/intense when playing football. Just taped for it and played. I have 2 bumps below my kneecaps, but thats it.

why did the ortho say not to do anything for 60 days? To allow the swelling to go down so he doesnt have the bumps perminitly?

I am no expert in what could happen if he continued to be active, but all it ment for me was some discomfort at the time it was going on. I dont suffer any ill effects now other than some sweet ass 2nd knee-caps.

[skifishbum]

I had as a youngen remember one leg being in a full leg cast for a month or two.
That was 20 years ago, I would hope during that time better treatment options were found.

[Meadow Skipper]

have him tape that shit up and play thru it. (semi serious)

Yeah, spit on it and run a lap.

I am no expert in what could happen if he continued to be active, but all it ment for me was some discomfort at the time it was going on. I dont suffer any ill effects now other than some sweet ass 2nd knee-caps.

That's more or less my experience. I had it in one knee and wore a knee pad for a couple of months and pulled back on sports, but eventually (a few months?) got back to business as usual including skiing, surfing and running.

[Vinman]

if he is someone with seriously tight hamstrings you should be having him stretch those everyday while he is on rest. Tight hams= ant. knee trouble.

[Bluebird]

I had it as well. I played through the pain and discomfort. I wore a brace and used lots of ice. Also spent some time in PT strengthening the knee and getting some sort of "sonic" treatment. I am having a brain fart and can't think of the name.

Anyway, I am no worse for the wear 20 years later with the exception of the standard bump.

Doc seems a little excessive. I remember it being fairly painful, but there was no way I wasn't gonna play soccer at the time. Hell, I had just made a pretty decent club team and the chicks were digging it.

[Vinman]

there are several stage of Osgoods. If he is being told to sit it could be that this has progressed to the point where the tendon is actually starting to avulse from the bone. In its milder forms one can continue to play as long as they manage it with ice and "relative rest".

[philippeR]

Thanks all.
It's a mild form of O-S, but it really hurted those last weeks. The ortho said that O-S is one of those disease where you must listen to the pain. If it hurts, rest. Or you may experience some issues in the future (like some bone fragments migrating along the tendon into the knee. I think the ortho was also trying to impress the kid...).
The 60 days are actualy to let the knee go back to normal (let the swelling disappear). PhilippeR Jr should be able to resume sport after that (like he really stopped sports anyway...) and smash his knees playing soccer, tennis, basket ball, riding his bike and skiing... But how hard ?

I'll look into physical therapy for some stretching work on the quadriceps and hamstrings.

But did the brace really helped, bluebird ? It's not an alignment issue.

[Bluebird]

The brace seemed to work for me. I wore the neonprene one with the hole by the kneecap. This was back in the late 80's/early 90's so they might have something a little better now. Then again, maybe simple is the best.

I did stop playing basketball, but it was more due to the fact that despite my relative size, I sucked. I would imagine anything on a hard court is worse. I played soccer all late summer/fall and then Lax and some more spring/summer soccer in the spring. Unfortunately I didn't start skiing until 14. My knee never bothered me from a skiing standpoint, but I hardly call wedging down Camelback, PA "bashing". If I had been a more aggressive skier at the time I would imagine I would have to make some changes. There were times it definitively swelled up pretty good and hurt like hell; especially getting out of the car after an away game. Fill lots of little paper cups with water and stick them in the freezer. Use them to ice and peel away the paper as it melts. I also used icy hot and that other blue stuff alot.

Now that I am writing this all out, I did do a lot to deal with the pain simply to play sports in my early to mid teens. Who knew I had the dedication.

If I were your son/you I would have him pick the things he really wants to charge at and then scale back on the other stuff pretty heavily. Getting some down time between sports seasons doesn't hurt either.

[Vinman]

while a brace my help the symptoms it is not getting at the root of the problem. If your son has hit his growth spurt, tight hamstring are very likely contributing to his problem. As the bones lengthen quickly in a growth spurt, the muscle do not. This creates tight muscles in an adolescent who just a year ago used to be a kid as flexible as gumby.

To test hamstring flexibility, have him lying down on his back, then with the knee straight lift the foot in the air until you feel resistance or he tells you it feels tight in the back of the leg. If he gets tight before the leg reaches 70-80 degree (90 would be perpendicular to the floor) his hamstrings are tight and he should be stretching everyday.

The reason this is a factor is every time he attempts to straiten the knee, his quad must overcome the tension in the hamstrings. This places a lot of strain on the patellar tendon and patello-femoral joint resulting in anything from Osgoods in younger folk, to patellar tendonitis to patello-femoral syndrome in us older folks. Combine this with high volume of multi-sport/season teenagers(and younger) and it is no wonder they have knee pain.

The ice cups are a great method to ice the knee.

[robgoose]

Had a very painful case when I was younger (doc said it was 9 out of 10) but continued playing footy... bothered me off and on into my early 20s and I found that avoiding running on hard surfaces and strenuous bicycling were the best bets for avoiding pain. Basketball might be tough this summer, swimming/soccer on grass should not exacerbate the pain too much.

I think 60 days of no sport sounds excessive ... and while I recall rupture being a possibility in theory, my doc at the time said it was extremely rare. Now, I have a bump below the knee, (and kneeling on the bump is not great fun) but very little, if any discomfort.

[UlyssesSki]

I have Osgood Schlatters currently. It's a bit sore when and after I ski, but totally manageable.

[mogul5480]

That hamstring explanation sounds spot on with my experience. Between age 12 - 15 I grew from 5'4" to 6'2" or so, and suddenly found myself with a bump on each knee. By senior yr of college I had a severe limp due to knee pain from this and pounding ice bumps at killington and sugarbush every weekend. As soon as I focused on a dedicated stretching regime for the hammies and piriformis, problem solved forever.