r/OsgoodSchlatter

My 11-year-old daughter has been dealing with anterior (front) knee pain for about a year. One thing that makes me question the diagnosis is that she doesn't have the classic Osgood-Schlatter bump on her tibial tuberosity.

The pain tends to fluctuate quite a bit. Sometimes it's manageable, but it consistently gets worse with lots of running and jumping. She plays competitive soccer and basketball, so there is plenty of both. Over the past year she has been doing physiotherapy with limited improvement.

A few other details that may or may not be relevant:

• She has gone through a significant growth spurt over the last 8 months.
• Her running mechanics are not ideal. She tends to bounce quite a bit, overstride, point her toes, and doesn't have a strong midfoot strike.
• The pain has started to affect her enjoyment of sports, which is hard to see because she genuinely loves being active.

She is scheduled to undergo imaging soon to rule out a stress fracture or other potential causes of the pain.

The good news is that she's about to have a summer with much less organized sport, so we're hoping to use that time to rest and focus on rehab.

My questions are:

1. Does this sound like Osgood-Schlatter's even without the characteristic bump?
2. For those who have dealt with it, did symptoms tend to improve once the major growth spurts slowed down?
3. Are there any rehab approaches, running mechanic changes, or other strategies that made a meaningful difference?

Any experiences, insights, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all, I just wanted to understand what we're going to be dealing with in the next week's months and years.

My son is turning 10 in a few weeks and he's a very active kid. Lots of running, footy (Aussie rules) swimming after school on top of all the running and playing during school hours. Last week on Wednesday suddenly after kicking a ball at school he couldn't put any more weight on the kicking leg. We did x-rays and there's no bone issues or fractures and we did an ultrasound and the doctors diagnosed OS with severe inflammation of the patellar tendon. He's been on crutches since then, without being able to put any weight on the leg. Even taking ibuprofen twice a day for the past 10 days as prescribed did nothing for the pain.

How long will it realistically take before he walks? Before he runs? Is it weeks or months?

And long term does it sort itself out with growth or is it something he'll have all his life?

What next steps would you advise?

Thanks for any insight.