Women Osgood Schlatters in a 7 year old??

[Amusibus]

My daughter is 7. And three quarters! And she has developed knee pain. Right in front of her knee, that came on out of nowhere but not really gradually. There was no injury I mean. She is going through a growth spurt for sure as in the last few months she has gained 6 pounds and 1.5 inches (this is a child who, probably due to health reasons, has barely grown at all over the last two or three years. Catching up I guess.) I read that Osgood Schlatters usually happens in girls ages 10-13 ish. She put on a Cho-Pat strap brace today for practice and it helped tremendously. My question is, has anyone seen this condition in a child so young before? Are gymnasts more prone to it? And I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with this condition. Thanks!

 

[Mama Duck]

I would take her to the doctor so you know what you are dealing with and can treat it appropriately. It sounds very similar to what happened to my daughter and she was diagnosed with Sinding Larsen Johanssen. I am including a link below for more info:
Link Removed
Her coach had to really modify her training and we did lots of icing. It has been about 4 months and finally she is just now getting back up to almost full training.

 

[Amusibus]

Thank you. This just started a few days ago. I know enough to get a general sense of what's going on- she hasn't been to any other doctor yet but we are going tomorrow. The patella strap brace seems to reduce her pain by about 80% instantaneously. the same type of brace would be used in both those syndromes it seems, right? I read your link and the two syndromes sound alike except for location. I will have to check the inferior patella, haven't yet, but she definitely has tenderness on the tibial tuberosity. Regardless... what a pain in the butt! It's funny, at gym yesterday she was all excited to show off her new brace to her friends. At gymnastics, having these injuries makes you one of the gang I guess.

 

[Mama Duck]

Yes, the straps do seem to help. My daughter has it in both knees - it started in one and ended up in both probably because of favoring one. Good luck and let us know what the doc has to say.

 

[wallflower]

My DD had knee pain right around that same age. It would come and go. She limited her tumbling and things that bothered it. She was growing and I attributed it to that.

 

[Amusibus]

Thanks for replying. Wallflower, did she have osgood schlatter's? I felt more confident in the diagnosis hearing of others having it so young. I have knowledge of musculoskeletal disorders, but knees are not an area I deal with that often. Anyway, we see the PCP tomorrow. It's weird - with the strap on her knee, she seems completely fine. With it off, she's limping and whining about the pain.

 

[thefellowsmom]

There is a girl at our gym who has amazing growth spurts. I would say it started when she was seven or eight, maybe eight. She will grow inches at a time and she has the same thing with her knees. OS was the diagnosis. When she is growing she wears those knee straps and it completely helps the problem. She doesn't have to wear them when she is not having a spurt or at least once her body is done recovering from one. It doesn't seem to bother her when she isn't growing. She is 11 now and the doctor says that once she is done after puberty it shouldn't be a problem any more for her.

 

[Mom2Brats]

I would definitely get it checked out, though. My dd had knee pain around age 9 and I thought it was probably Osgood but it was actually a fracture in her knee cap. So better to be sure.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My daughter is 7. And three quarters! And she has developed knee pain. Right in front of her knee, that came on out of nowhere but not really gradually. There was no injury I mean. She is going through a growth spurt for sure as in the last few months she has gained 6 pounds and 1.5 inches (this is a child who, probably due to health reasons, has barely grown at all over the last two or three years. Catching up I guess.) I read that Osgood Schlatters usually happens in girls ages 10-13 ish. She put on a Cho-Pat strap brace today for practice and it helped tremendously. My question is, has anyone seen this condition in a child so young before? Are gymnasts more prone to it? And I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with this condition. Thanks!

i thought you were a Chiro? it is more likely that it is patellar tendonitis or 'jumpers knee'. the straps will work fine.

 

[raenndrops]

My daughter is 7. And three quarters! And she has developed knee pain. Right in front of her knee, that came on out of nowhere but not really gradually. There was no injury I mean. She is going through a growth spurt for sure as in the last few months she has gained 6 pounds and 1.5 inches (this is a child who, probably due to health reasons, has barely grown at all over the last two or three years. Catching up I guess.) I read that Osgood Schlatters usually happens in girls ages 10-13 ish. She put on a Cho-Pat strap brace today for practice and it helped tremendously. My question is, has anyone seen this condition in a child so young before? Are gymnasts more prone to it? And I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with this condition. Thanks!

I was actually diagnosed with a similar knee problem when I started 3rd grade (but I had been in pain for over a year by the time I got to the ortho - my family doctor didn't seem too interested in getting to the bottom of it). It does seem to affect female athletes more than non-athletes... I was doing baseball, football, gymnastics, and bmx racing at the time I think that might be part of the reason my doc didn't think much of it.
Definitely get it checked out because it is possible that there's a big problem.

 

[Amusibus]

Ok update. We saw GP, as expected he had no clue but sent for xrays of knee and both hips and referred to ortho. We quickly got in with a sports med orthopedic surgeon with extensive experience with gymnasts. He diagnosed BOTH Osgood Schlatters and Sinding Larsen Johansen Syndrome, due to large growth spurt. Dunno, yes, you are right, I already knew what was going on, and the ortho 100% confirmed my suspicions. BUT a) Pediatrics are not my area b) extremities are not my area and c) she is my own child. I feel it is wise when treating family members to have a bit of professional distance. But I felt good when he told me it was exactly what I already knew it was. Ice, exercise modification, bracing - and waiting. He said she should be doing a lot better in three weeks. She will be able to do bars and floor in her first comp on saturday, with the brace on.

 

[LizzieLac]

My DD, now 13 and still not pain free, had a very bad case of Osgood Schlatters in both knees that kicked in when she was just over 11. She grew nearly 8 inches in two years - no wonder!!

She uses the knees braces for tumbling an vault, and I suppose it helps a little. But she made the most improvement from going to physical therapy 3 days a week, and doing similar exercises at home and when at the gym. It was about 3-4 months of regular PT, but she finally started feeling better. Still not 100% but she just deals with whatever pain she still has. So I would recommend consider PT.

 

[Amusibus]

Yah, I asked about PT, but he said no, there's no muscle imbalance, her patella is tracking normally, it's purely a bone/cartiledge issue. I guess if it does not resolve as quickly as he thought we would reconsider PT (it was my first instinct to think she would need it too). Thanks for sharing your experience. Food for thought. My daughter barely grew at all in the last three years due ti nutritional issues (40 pounds at age 4, 45 pounds at age 7, same shoe size). Now in last 6 months she grew over an inch and is 53 pounds!!!! yay! but, also boooo.

 

[Mama Duck]

Amusibus - Glad you at least know what you are dealing with now. It sounds like our daughters are on the same growth pattern. My daughter grew about an inch this year and is now a whopping 52 pounds at 10 years old!

Dr. Larry Nassar referred us to a video he posted for some stretches to do for Sinding Larsen Johansen. He also posted a video for Osgood Schlatters. I thought these might be helpful so I have included the links below.

Sinding Larsen Johansen:
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1649527191918

Osgood Schlatters:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?p=PLBA134BBD8EF1A401&feature=plpp&v=s1F6ErBpnUI

 

[Mama Duck]

Sorry - just realized that I didn't include the full link for the Sinding Larsen Johansson video (also realized I spelled it wrong).

Here you go:

 

[Amusibus]

Thank you! I've actually seen those already.

 

[BlairBob]

I would guess too much pounding for her body at the moment in tandem with the growth spurt.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Ok update. We saw GP, as expected he had no clue but sent for xrays of knee and both hips and referred to ortho. We quickly got in with a sports med orthopedic surgeon with extensive experience with gymnasts. He diagnosed BOTH Osgood Schlatters and Sinding Larsen Johansen Syndrome, due to large growth spurt. Dunno, yes, you are right, I already knew what was going on, and the ortho 100% confirmed my suspicions. BUT a) Pediatrics are not my area b) extremities are not my area and c) she is my own child. I feel it is wise when treating family members to have a bit of professional distance. But I felt good when he told me it was exactly what I already knew it was. Ice, exercise modification, bracing - and waiting. He said she should be doing a lot better in three weeks. She will be able to do bars and floor in her first comp on saturday, with the brace on.

wow! i'm surprised. OS is not that common for gymnasts and the SLJS even more uncommon. bracing will certainly work and vaulting can be the culprit. glad to hear it was nothing worse.