Osgood-Schlatter Disease (I think)

[DanielWhittle]

I know there are other topics on Knee pains, But I think this is more specific and I figured it would be better to make a seperate topic.

OK, so Osgood-Schlatter disease is often found in young teenage boys and girls who participate in a physical acticity alot and begin to suffer knee pains under and around the knee cap where the shin and knee meet. Young teenagers suffer more because their bones are still growing.

The internet says:

A common form of growing pains or overuse in early adolescence involves the shinbone and the knee.

My older brother had this very same disease off skateboarding and football (soccer).

He had it for 2 - 3 years and I am beggining to worry this may happen to me and prevent me playing footbag and other physical sports I enjoy.

I have tried to give footbag a rest for about a week now and need advice on what to do.

I suppose a few weeks rest now would be better than lots of time later on not being able to do it at all.

Does anybody have any advice?

[HooD]

You'll always hear about shredders gettin the 'jumper's knee' or patellar tendonitis here and there, but I'm suprised I really haven't many cases of Osgood's. So basically, you sum'd it up already.

Jumper's knee is pretty much the inflamed and overused patellar tendon, but with Osgood's it is where the tendon inserts into the bone (tibia). Osgood is seen in a younger population (10 - 16) because of the bone growth formation stages. In early stages you'll feel nagging pain below your knee cap...you can feel where your tendon inserts into the bony prominence. That is the insertion point called the tibial tubercle. As it progresses if you keep doing repetitious activities the pains will become more severe at the insertion point. The worst cases are scene with avulsion fractures- that's when the bone is actually pulling away from the tibia.

So, how to avoid this - Flexibility is key. The tendon that is inserting into the point of tenderness originates at the thighs. Stretching out your quads is very important after exercises to keep the tension at the insertion point minimal. Also stretching the opposing muscle group is important - Hamstrings (back of the thigh). You're prolly thinking, why stretch hamstrings when they have nothing to do with the patellar tendon...well, having overly tight hams creates more resistance at the quads doing the opposing movements - so that means there again will be more tension at the insertion point of the patellar tendon. Most of the time when you see kids with Osgood, they're overly tight with those muscle groups which makes them more susceptible.

If you're worried about footbag being the factor that starts Osgood for you - don't play long sessions, don't play everyday, use a surface with some cushion, and make sure your technique is forgiving to your joints (proper form). I think I just talked about the other topic called "aching".

Hope that helps ya out.
Also if you start to get that aching feeling at the insertion, ice it down after activities to keep any swelling / inflammation down.

[brinard]

i got osgoods whatever. its that thing on the top of your shin bone from calcium. it juts out. it hurts.

it dosent affect footbag. well... not if your finished growing. i skated for 2 years, and played sports all through middle and high school. you dont have anything to worry about. just dont get kicked in that spot. it dosent prevent movement from what i can see

[HooD]

If you actually have Osgood's, it does prevent movement, because of the high levels of pain you'll have. For some kids taking stairs is hard because they're so far into Osgood's. Footbag would be outta the question for kids like that, pretty much would feel like your bone was getting pulled away each time you hit symp mirage. Just make sure to take care of yourself and be smart about it if you feel the onsets of it.

[brinard]

no, no, no, i didnt mean it dosent effect me or others for footbag, but im grown. i think after you stop growing it dosent really do anything but hurt if you bump it. yeah, as i was growing up, it hurt plenty. now, i dont really notice it unless i run into a coffee table.

but maybe i have something else. i dunno. oh well.

[DanielWhittle]

Yeh, I have tried to lay off a little.

It doesn't hurt any other time but as soon as I start shredding it affects my ability to play quite a bit.

[Brad_R]

Yeah, I've been just diagnosed with tendonitis. I too have that bone that juts out just below the knee. And if I were to get kicked in the shins by someone, even without cowboy boots on, it would drop me to the floor. so I went to the doctor. He said, that I should get a band to go around my between the bump and the knee. I've seen players use them, but i thought perhaps it was just for style. I've seen Weber use one. The doctor said they sould be easy to find, probably at shoe stores or sporting goods stores. I have to take two weeks off of footbag until my left leg heals, and I won't be able to go to the NEW YEARS JAM, but it is important to get better. I used to shred for an hour a day, an it would hurt to go up and down stairs the day after a practice. But I haven't let up. I hope this helps, and my knee injury has nothing to do with
Osgood-Schlatter disease. There may be lots of spellig erorrs in this. I hope it is readable

[Carlos]

I also have OG. it's sucks ass b/c I don't get to play as long as other shredders, but I do practice on form lot and I'm trying to figure out the best ways to hit a tick with out lots of pressure being used on the leg. this sucks also b/c it's my Strong Side so I tend to favor it a lot more than my flip side. I do strech before and after a session but lately I've also been just kicking like 10-15 before and after a session(also helps to with streching and cooling down). The knee band brace is essencial when doing sym moves b/c it removes a lot of pressure off of the knee so if you do have OG be sure to make sure and get one!

[hackeysnacker]

What can the athlete do if they have osgood schlatters disease?

* See a sports injury professional who can make a correct diagnosis to confirm the existance of Osgood Schlatters disease and make sure it is not anything else causing the pain.
* Rest. This injury needs rest if it is to heal properly. Only do as much exercise as it will allow without causing pain. Weight bearing exercise will make it worse. Keep your sessions few and high quality rather than train every day.
* Apply ice or cold therapy to the knee regularly throughout the day to reduce pain and inflammation and particularly following activity or sport. Ice should be applied at least three times a day for 10 to 15 minutes. Ice massage with an ice cube or a paper / polystyrene cup with water frozen in is a convenient way to apply cold therapy to a specific area such as the patella tendon.
* Use a knee support or brace to help reduce the tension on the knee.

most people have a bony protrusion below their knee, it doesn't necessarily mean they all have osgood-shlatter's.. if your knees feel like they're getting fucked up from playing footbag you should just stop playing for a while and see how that helps. A week off won't hurt anyone's game

[gMoney]

more than 3.5 million children under the age of 14 suffer sports-related injuries each year in the United States

one thing you don't want to do is heavily devote yourself to a sport when youre young. there was this thing on the news (god how i love the news ) about how little kids are practicing too much and are suffering overuse injuries that hurt their long-game. you shouldnt devote yourself entirely to a sport (yes, this includes footbag) until you're about 17-18 years old and are done growing. i dont mean you can't play, i mean don't push yourself. these kids on the news started playing their sports at the age of like 7 competitively, and at the age of 13 they got reconstructive elbow or shoulder surgery and couldnt play anymore. my uncle had reconstructive shoulder surgery and he's 60 years old. but the one thing that kinda prevented this was many sports at a time. it's one sport year round, like baseball, you're probably going to overuse your arm, which is bad. but if you play soccer, baseball, basketball, and do track all in one year, it's good for your body, because it's all working out different areas. and one thing that does not help is playing through pain. you may think that because youre struggling through it and pushing yourself, there's going to be a bigger outcome. it's not true at all. that's how you end up hurting yourself worse. you're body won't be able to handle it. especially if you havent hit puberty yet, you're just tearing away muscle fiber and not gaining anything back. its just a good idea not to get too serious about a sport until you're old enough to handle it.

[DanJohnHarris]

I have osgood's. It first became known after a long day of baseball, when i was 14, my leg swelled to twice its normal size. We went to the emergency room, turns out it was just a severe case of some common disease with a funny name.

It hurt like a bastard, I didn't even try playing footbag, it but walking on it hurt, touching it hurt really bad.

Now, I don't feel it at all, might as well not have it. I didn't tend to it or care for it, I have the protrusion from below my left knee, and it's not tender anymore. Just give it time, be easy on it while it's hurting, and you will be ok.

[DanielWhittle]

Recently, my knee has still been hurting quite a bit.

I have rested it for 2 weeks, and today when I tried playing, my legs just felt completely weak and out of practice, along with my knees hurting.

I really want to improve at footbag but I know that if I play thats what makes my knees hurt... I want to be real good at footbag, but I feel this is getting in my way

I may look into one of the bands...

PS. Honza wears one of the bands on his knee, is that a style reason or does he have Osgoods??

[gMoney]

i heard somewhere Honza has killer knee pain, but that's all i heard, and that's all i know

[PegLegHolly]

you can get those knee bands at walmart. make sure if you get it that you dont put it on too tight, cause that can cause bad circulation.

and i know what you mean about some people wearing something like that for style. theres this kid that used to footbag with us and he wears this lame wrist band on his leg cause he thinks hes cool. its green and it has the 1up mushroom from mario on it... the wrist band was far cooler than he was.

[DanielWhittle]

@ the mushroom wristband

Well they don't have wal marts here in england, we have ASDA ( owned by wal-mart ) so I'll have a look in there.

Anyway, I'll try one of the bands out and hope that can do something for me.