Parents Osgoods - what was your gymnast's journey?

[e'smum]

First - not looking for medical advice! We have a 1pm dr apt today and am asking for an X-ray to start and are going from there.
Just looking to see how your gymnast was diagnosed and what the follow up steps were.

Background:
My kid sprained her ankle and then when it was almost healed - the opposite knee started hurting. Now it has a bump on it and when I (dr) googled, it sounds/looks very much like Osgoods. She's 11 (12 in Feb) so she fits the age and she's having some growth spurts.
She starts "real" PT for Jumper's Knee (the original diagnosis from her gym's PT) next week but looking at the bump, I'm pretty sure it's Osgoods. I'm anxious to get a diagnosis since it's not going away like the PT at her gym thought it would (and her coaches were saying it might not be real just a way to get out of doing certain skills) and it hurts randomly and only on certain skills. It also hurts during her floor routine when she falls/drops to her knees, which also leads me to believe Osgoods since that fall puts pressure on the Osgoods point on the knee.

 

[Nikki4]

Dd took Oscon and it helped osgoods and severs

 

[MuggleMom]

I had it growing up was diagnosed in middle or high school I forget. It was uncomfortable I taped it but it never stopped me from doing anything (gymnast from 6 through High school not high level but proficient also did cheerleading, field hockey, soccer so very active) . After my knee growth plates finished growing I had surgery (Junior in HS very easy surgery and recovery) and I am fine now. Gets achey when it rains but that could be just cause I am getting older lol.

 

[M2Abi]

DD was diagnosed with Osgood Schlatters in July. She is 11 also. She was in severe pain and really couldn't do floor or vault at all. It hurt to walk and especially going up and down stairs. Eventually I pulled her from gymnastics for a month because her coach kept making her try to do tumbling. She was on crutches for a week to keep her off the knee completely. We switched gyms and she started back slowly. She still hasn't done vault, but is slowly starting some tumbling on floor. Her knee still hurts but it is significantly improved. Foam rolling of her quads and stretching helped the most. (Find quad stretching exercises where you don't have to bend the knee.) Her quads were really tight and had massive knots so we do daily epsom salt baths also.

 

[e'smum]

DD was diagnosed with Osgood Schlatters in July. She is 11 also. She was in severe pain and really couldn't do floor or vault at all. It hurt to walk and especially going up and down stairs. Eventually I pulled her from gymnastics for a month because her coach kept making her try to do tumbling. She was on crutches for a week to keep her off the knee completely. We switched gyms and she started back slowly. She still hasn't done vault, but is slowly starting some tumbling on floor. Her knee still hurts but it is significantly improved. Foam rolling of her quads and stretching helped the most. (Find quad stretching exercises where you don't have to bend the knee.) Her quads were really tight and had massive knots so we do daily epsom salt baths also.

so the PT at her gym said her upper leg was very tight and we bought a roller for her to use. we are also taking a huge step back from JO and moving to Xcel where the hours are less than half of what she did in JO.
hers gets progressively worse through practice. so she may do some front tumbling, which really bothers it, and it won't hurt the first time but by pass #3 it hurts. then it will hurt the next day and she won't want to do front tumbling. basic back tumbling is ok although her full bothers her i guess b/c she hasn't been doing it.
my dd's isn't severe - she says it's medium. she does have practice tonight and i will use KT tape - found a youtube video with instructions for Osgoods.
i leave in 35 mins to go pick her up from school and i'm very anxious to get the diagnosis so we can move on from there, no matter what it is.

 

[e'smum]

Dd took Oscon and it helped osgoods and severs

will check this out - thanks!

 

[sce]

My ds has a huge growth spurt between age 11abd 13. About halfway through gevstatted having knee pain. It was quickly diagnosed as Osgood Schlatter. At first he just used and avoided anything that hurt it- tumbling abd vault. Months later no improvent, so we went to a sports doctor. Got x-rays. Growthpkate was pretty developed and she said at that point it was a nuisance pain that would resolve in about 6 months. We made a plan for what to do to minimize the pain but still allow him to work floor and vault. Icing after practice was a big key. If he wasn’t homeschooled he would have gotten a nite to get out if PE. Thus saving any use of the knee for gymnastics. He did what he could to minimize the pain and stopped anytime it got worse. He did eventually outgrow it.

 

[Outsider]

Had Osgood’s for a long time. Started when I played soccer 3 times a week, at age 12. I remember always being in pain, but at the same time kind of being used to it, so I kept playing. Mom took me to the doctor, advice was taking 4-6 weeks off; no running or jumping. Managed to do about that during summer break, had less pain for a while, but first week back at training, pain was back as well. Orthopedic surgeon at my local hospital advices casting my legs (8 weeks one, 8 weeks the other!). 17 years later, my brother still makes fun of my hysterical meltdown when I got that advice, I didn’t mention the pain for months after that. When my brother tor his acl, mom took me to see his knee specialist as well. His advice; no rest, no cast, take brufen before every practice and do what you can, except running on hard surfaces (vault run was fine). Worked for me! I used a jumpers knee brace as well at his advice, which really helped. Must admit at 17 I was still in pain, so switched from soccer to field hockey to avoid the ‘kicks’, tore my ACL 3 months later...

 

[Jazzjerz]

My non gymnast son has it, and running is where it has bothered him most. Oscon and taping (Rock tape in an “X” over the bump then up on the sides) help alleviate the pain, although he does still play through the pain that remains. Good wishes for the X-ray appt today!

 

[e'smum]

Thanks for all the advice! It is indeed Osgoods. My kiddo actually was skipping and happy to have a reason for the pain. She said she felt a bit vindicated (ok big word is mine) b/c none of her coaches felt the pain was real. They all felt it was an excuse to avoid certain skills. It was like a huge weight was lifted off her. The bump on her knee is new though and she never told me when it developed. She said she didn't think it was related.

Luckily for us, the new Nurse Practitioner is a former gymnast from an area very intense gym. E really liked her as she knew everything about the sport and was able to give us great advice. She took one look at the bump and was like, oh yeah... that's a pretty big bump you got going on. I swear it grew since last night! She said no need for an X-ray after the exam but to do PT and back off on the hours at the gym. She gave us a script for PT and a brace, which my gym requires as well as some exercises to start right away. E found a youtube video on how to tape up O-S knee and taped it up tonight before practice.

We are talking about managing expectations for this year and if she only does bar and beam at meets, that is ok. She can continue to work her other skills on knee friendly trampolines and pits. She's been trying Xcel this week but doesn't like the low hours so we will meet with her coach and see if he will agree to a modified JO work schedule for her for now and let her only compete what she can until her pain is under control. They are pretty good about it. But it's really what she wants and now she's mulling things over.

 

[Flipfloppy]

Hurray for having a diagnosis and a plan! However, it's a big red flag that her coaches didn't believe her report that she was in pain...

 

[e'smum]

Hurray for having a diagnosis and a plan! However, it's a big red flag that her coaches didn't believe her report that she was in pain...

yes. and we will be discussing that with the HC next week.
FTR - she had a ton of mental blocks last year (yet did pretty well despite her fears) and i think they were thinking this was her way of dealing with mental blocks again this year. but now she feels like they didn't believe her and that has caused a rift in trust....

 

[MyHappyLife]

Look into the Cho-Pat knee straps. A couple of my daughter's teammates have used them. Might be easier than taping every practice!
https://cho-pat.com/products/knee/original-knee-strap/

 

[Outsider]

Hurray for having a diagnosis and a plan! However, it's a big red flag that her coaches didn't believe her report that she was in pain...

Good thing to discuss, but doesn’t have to be as ‘negative’ as it sounds now. I remember being in constant pain, that was often triggered by the things I did, but not directly related to it. My coaches (soccer ánd gymnastics) didn’t really know how severe it was either, since I would say it hurts but, if needed, would run just as good as always. Different from the ‘sharp’ pain you feel when you you have trauma to the knee. Coaches were confused by the ‘it really hurts’ but surprised that it did not seem to effect the normal movement of my knee.

https://goo.gl/images/qFtDhZ an easy brace as this one has done wonders to me. Saves tons of time and tape too!