# Severe Osgood Schalter disease



## Speed (Sep 25, 2018)

Anyone care to share their journey with this disease and the outcome? The good, bad and ugly. I think we are among the ugly and wondering if its ever going to transition to even the bad category let alone the good.


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## Sheriff Joe (Sep 25, 2018)

Speed said:


> Anyone care to share their journey with this disease and the outcome? The good, bad and ugly. I think we are among the ugly and wondering if its ever going to transition to even the bad category let alone the good.


It seems like it will never end but my kid only had it for 1 year when she was 14.  Rest and ice, she didn't like the bands.


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## Soccerfan2 (Sep 25, 2018)

Ice, ibuprofen and rest when it becomes unbearable. Stretching helps too. KT tape was better for her than the band. It will pass. 2 bad years for my daughter and it still flares up occasionally but is improving a ton over the past 6 months. The residual bump on the knee is pretty ugly though and that’s not going away. Hang in there!


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## jpeter (Sep 25, 2018)

No quick fix normally will outgrow the symptoms when muscles catch up to bone growth

To cope in the meantime: try to message the tendon before activity, (finger rubs across kind of hard) this will stretch the tendon out, might hurt somewhat initially but should fell better after a bit.

2nd thing to remember is a good longer warmup & stretch, especially the quads & hamstrings.

To treat the pain ice immediately after the activity.

Some of my sons friends & teammates have went through for a few years between 11-14 but by 15-16 or so things have improved and not really a problem anymore. Yoga seemed to help one of his mates a lot in getting the tendon stretched out as he had the symptom in both knees/ patellas.


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## Simisoccerfan (Sep 25, 2018)

I had it in both knees bad  back in 1979.  I had to quite soccer and running.  Ended swimming and playing water polo.     Took me maybe three years before the pain went away.  Still have bumps to show for it.


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## espola (Sep 25, 2018)

My brother had it bad starting in high school.  In college he was a ski jumper and often had to have the swelling drained from his knees after a meet.


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## SplitSoccerFamMom (Sep 25, 2018)

Stretch before, stretch during, stretch after. Stretch every muscle in close proximity to the pain. Ice. Heat.cryo therapy. Time. Rest. No easy or fast fix.  Has to run it course with the kids growth spurt.


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## midreams (Sep 26, 2018)

My son had it when he was 11-12. Wore braces on both knees for about a year. He definitely didn't like the straps. He was still able to play through it, however, he is a keeper so he didn't have to run around as much as field players. It was pretty painful for him, but he outgrew it and now at age 15, he doesn't have any knee pain at all.


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## Nefutous (Sep 26, 2018)

My DD had it at age 11-12. Based on her pain tolerance I believe that she had a pretty bad case. It definitely affected her speed. She was stiff and in a lot of pain 24-7.  

I took her to physical therapy and it helped a lot. They taught her how to warm up and do exercises and stretching at home.  The yoga comment above makes a lot of sense because the key to relieving the pain it to help elongate the patella tendon.  Unfortunately our insurance would not pay for the physical therapy. If you are in San Diego DM me for a reference.

Wearing a band below the knee does nothing to elevate the pain other than the placebo affect.  The band pushes the patella tendon again the bone so that there is not an air gap between the two.  If the tendon is kept always against the bone, the bone will not grow into the gap (this is the bump that is permanent).

My daughter was more upset about the bump than the pain. I told her that it could be shaved with surgery later in life if the look really bothered her and that calmed her down. She is now 14 and has completely forgotten about the bumps and is pain free.


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## Surfref (Sep 26, 2018)

I had it when I was around 13.  Both knees and had to stop playing soccer and baseball for about a year.  Still went surfing 3-7x a week which didn't cause any pain.  My daughter said she has several patients with it in physical therapy and they do a lot of stretching and strengthening of the entire legs, hips and back.  She says it is all connected and you just cannot work on the knees.  She said they do get an extensive massage of the leg muscles every section which helps loosen up the muscles, ligaments and tendons. She said she has seen patients be able to fully return to soccer in 5-8 months on average with proper PT multiple times per week.


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## watfly (Sep 26, 2018)

I seriously doubt that they use this treatment anymore since this was nearly 40 years ago, but I had it in one knee and they put me in a full leg cast from ankle to hip  (pre-fiberglass, so full plaster).  My vague recollection was that I had it on for 6 weeks.  It worked.


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## Surfref (Sep 26, 2018)

watfly said:


> I seriously doubt that they use this treatment anymore since this was nearly 40 years ago, but I had it in one knee and they put me in a full leg cast from ankle to hip  (pre-fiberglass, so full plaster).  My vague recollection was that I had it on for 6 weeks.  It worked.


What treatment?


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## watfly (Sep 26, 2018)

Surfref said:


> What treatment?


The leg cast was the only "treatment" I received.  I've never heard of anyone else being put in a cast for Osgood.


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## White Lightning (Sep 26, 2018)

I had a cast put on my left knee when I was 12 in the early 90’s.  In hindsight I wish I would have had it done two years later when it occurred in my right knee since that one still has the bump and took longer to heal. 

Straight speed never returned, but quickness came back.  Really hope my kids can avoid it.


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## SPChamp1 (Sep 28, 2018)

I suffered from OS as a teenager and to this day (I’m 38 now), the bump below my knee is still tender. Knocking those bumps is still almost as painful today as it was back then. I don’t recall it ever being debilitating enough where I couldn’t play sports, but I do remember seemingly always needing to ice my knees after playing games. 

I’m sure as others have mentioned, there are probably many more options today to help alleviate symptoms then there was back then, but ice and rest (as much as possible) were always my staple as a teenager.


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## Win_some (Oct 6, 2018)

So I grew up with it, it caused enough misalignment of my right Patella tendon to cause complete dislocations during sports, had to push joint back together on the field several times. Bump is huge in right knee, smaller in left, surgery was suggested, I opted out. Spent many, many years doing serious gym work. Never an issue once i started cant remember the bone pain dislocations were a bit worse. 50’s now and still going strong.


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## Not_that_Serious (Oct 9, 2018)

one of my best friend's kid has it. i helped take care of him for a small period of time. huge sympathy for those who deal with it and those with kids suffering with it. cant stress the rest enough, its hard with kids who want to move. keeping them stretched has to be consistent and a routine. i also took my son's kid to get massage therapy and to get the tension in the muscles released via a Active Release Technique specialist. A good ART specialist (someone with with ALL certs) will also teach them how what to do to remain limber.  Routine is important as it became easier to battle flair ups vs full blown treatment. I also cleaned up his diet, which seemed to  help, but that could just be him feeling healthier due to better quality food (no fast food) and having good fuel for his body to use.


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