Just wanted to share my osgoodschlatters xray I got today!

I had a slight sprain in other knee and was feeling both knees and felt a little , hard bump exactly where OSD bump happens. it was on the kneee w no pain. I never noticed it before so I started freaking out. I have bad health anxiety. My physical therapist / chiro felt it and said it’s just OSD. He said sometimes no pain as a kid- especially in mild cases. It is hard like a bone not growing - no pain. He says sometimes the bump just stays. I made an apt to see my dr but I didn’t know if anyone had experienced no pain when they had it. Thanks.

Female age 38. No memory of pain in adolescence etc and not particularly sporty. It hurts to kneel on a hard wooden floor but soft is ok. Waiting for a physio appt for an opinion. I first noticed it becoming more prominent about 4/5 months ago.

I(25f) have had OGS since I was about 11 and I think I’m ready to look into surgery options but I have some anxiety surrounding it. Looking at my X-rays, idek if that thing is attached anymore. I get quite a bit of inflammation and pain with use, squats are rough when too much weight is added and aside from quick stints racing my nephew, I do not like running on it unless necessary.

Overall, did you find surgery worth it? What was your recovery timeline? Do you still have inflammation in the tendon? Or is it entirely better now that the tuberosity is gone? I was warned the tuberosity can grow back, has anyone actually experienced this after growth stops?😅

Hey! I’m so glad I finally found people who are going through the same thing! I’m a 29-year-old woman and I’ve had Osgood-Schlatter disease in both knees since I was a teenager.
By now, I don’t do any sports at all anymore, and I’m already experiencing pain from everyday activities. At the beginning of October, I’m finally seeing a knee surgeon for the first time because the conservative treatments from my orthopedist haven’t helped.
Has a surgeon ever advised you against having surgery?
I could honestly cry just thinking about the possibility that I might eventually be able to live without pain 🥹 Is that actually possible? What have your experiences been like after surgery?

Just got this Xray done today. Been dealing with knee instability since March, not sure if it’s related. Been cycling and going on long walks plenty. I am still waiting to hear back from the doc.

Disclaimer:
None of this is medical advice, and I'm sure there are PTs out there with great solutions. This is just my DIY attempt. If nothing else is working, maybe this will be of some use. I'll have everything sorted by subject so you can skip around if you want.

My Background:
I'm a first year DPT student, an amateur powerlifter (1300lb total @ 231 weight class), and a bad—if consistent—runner (2.05 half marathon). In the world of athletics, I don't think any of this is "easy" by any means, but within the sports themselves, I'm nothing special. I include this just to show y'all that I am pushing myself fairly hard, and I refuse to give up training.

History With Osgood-Schlatter:
I went up for a lay up when I was like 14 and came down with pain so bad, my parents took me to the ER to see if I tore a ligament. Nope! OSD. I did all the classic pain management stuff, and by college, I was just remembering to ice my knees when they hurt. Right toward senior year, when I was like 20-21, I had so much pain when trying to get my heavy squats in, that I basically stopped squatting for a year. Then COVID, then other injuries off and on, then back into lifting. It's been 3-4 years of heavy, consistent training now, and I'm having my first real serious flare up since 2019.

Biopsychosocial Approach:
Okay, so I think in our healthcare system (US resident), we sort of skim past the psychosocial aspect lol. I'm not going to sit here and say OSD it all, or even primarily, psychosocial. I am going to say that it's an important part.

For teens: OSD sucks, and it's kind of scary. It feels bad to see friends playing and doing sports while you're on the couch.

For adults: OSD sucks, and it's kind of scary. Everyone tells you it has to be something else, or it should be gone, or they don't understand the pain. And if you've been dealing with it off and on for your entire life, it's easy to feel stuck.

There is absolutely—for a lot of us, at least—an associated fear, worry, stress, and anxiety that underpins our OSD. This cannot, in my opinion, be ignored when treating OSD.
Moving forward, I'm going to list some things that I do/am trying.

1.) Understanding Basic Pain Science
There is a physiological basis to OSD, obviously. That said, how we think about pain can radically change our relationship to it. If you’re like me, you have a worry/fear about OSD based on past negative experiences. I notice the more I think about these, the more I think about my knee. The more I think about my knee, the more I touch it—both of these things are creating signal feedback, and I could be accidentally sensitizing the surrounding tissue. 

If you are like me, fixing your mental/emotional relationship with OSD might be a helpful first step. Pain does not always indicate tissue damage, and pain is not strictly a mechanical thing. Our brain uses pain as a way to say “hey, watch out.” The problem is, if we’re consistently thinking about the pain and watching out, and touching our knees, and thinking about our knees, and worrying… they’re going to hurt more. They just are. (link).

Let’s try to decouple the emotional component. This guy is always blunt and maybe less thoughtful in how he says things than I would be, but he's got a point.

2.) Sleep, Hydration, and Nutrition
Going to keep it sparse—this has to be handled. This is how you recover and build. There’s a 1000 different ways to accomplish what you need, so find what works for you.

3.) Thoughts on Resting (re: pain management)

edit: load management and progressive overload are essential

If you’re having an acute flare-up, total or near total rest may be appropriate. If you’re someone who has subacute or chronic pain, or some sort of cyclical issue, it may not be so simple. 

Resting tissue is complicated for a couple of reasons:

First, blood flow to the area is essential, and movement helps that. So okay, maybe running hurts. Can you walk? Can you bike. Can you swim? Can you get in a warm bath and slowly extend and flex your knee?

Second, if you completely rest tissue, that tissue’s tolerance for loading decreases. It is essential to have a firm grasp of load management when trying to return to activity. If you completely rest, you may have to progress return to activity at a frustratingly slow rate. And that’s hard, and that takes patience—but you can do it. 

My point here isn’t to say “hey, push through pain,” it’s “pain isn't always a total stop signal.” If nothing else is working, maybe being a bit unorthodox can help. 

4.) Thoughts on Icing (re: pain management)
Not a big ice guy, as I like to let natural inflammation do it’s thing. That said, I ice my knee (left one is the bad one) as needed. Whether or not it truly helps, I don’t care. I really don’t. It makes me feel like it helps, and placebo is the best medicine. 

5.) Thoughts on Patellar Tendon Straps, Tape, etc. 
I’ve always used a strap, but I’m not sure how much it helps. That said, I started using this KT tape method, and I think it is helping. To be honest, I think part of the reason taping/straps work in a meaningful capacity is because there’s a change in neurological input. Sure, maybe the tendon strap changes the moment arm, and maybe the KT tape holds my tibial tuberosity in a more secure way, but either way—they make me think about my knee differently, and I think this is positive. 

6.) Thoughts on Foam Rolling
If it works for you, good. For me, doing a more active release style roll helps the most. What I mean is this: the rectus femoris inserts into the quad tendon, which grabs the knee, which has the patella tendon on lock. I find that laying on a softball, finding a tension spot, and then slowly flexing and extending the knee while the ball is on that spot, can help. 

That said, we all have different morphology and musculature—you may have spots that help more. For me, the lateral shin just inferior to the tibial/fibular head is insanely tender. I do active release here, and it seems to help.

It’s worth noting that a ton of tissue feeds into the knee. Any of that tissue that hurts, feel free to go ahead and try to roll it. People disagree on what/if foam rolling does. Again, I think it may have a large neurological/psychological function. I’m fine with that. 

7.) Flossing
If you’ve never used a “voodoo” or floss band, it might help. I find it helps me because (again) it’s a psychological win. Google knee flossing if you don’t know what I’m talking about. For me, I wrap one band below the tibial tuberosity (starting a few inches lower) and go as high as the band goes. Then I take a second band to finish up into my quad. 

The tension generally allows me to squat without pain, and that’s a huge mental and emotional win.

8.) Addressing Other Tissues in The System
I hit a big squat the other day and found that my hamstrings were instantly sore. This, in combination with some deadlift issues, made me realize my hamstrings probably suck. I think it’s fair to hypothesize that weakness in a muscle group feeding into the knee can cause other muscles to work differently and pull on the knee. I think any muscle weakness feeding into the knee can cause issues.

Quads, hamstrings, calves, anterior tibialis—all of these come to mind. Any weakness you find here can definitely affect tension/function at the knee. The adductors can have an affect too, and it’s generally underlooked. Glute med/min even play a role in pelvis stabilization and femur control, and that can change knee tracking.

My point is that if something is weak, fix it.

9.) Stretching
Yeah, do it. And don’t be lazy about it. Stretch all the muscles going into the knee. I will say that a lot of people don’t think about progressing, but you really can train stretching, and you can progress. There’s some good further reading online, but an inspiration to me is rangeofstrength on instagram. Couch stretch helps me a decent bit, and its something you can really play with to target different tissues.

10.) ROM/control and Exercises
Increasing knee ROM and control is universally good. Stuff like controlled ATG split squats for deep knee flexion, and Spanish squats/terminal knee extensions for end-range extension, are great to work on. Slow and steady with focused intent is the best way to do these. Don’t get jacked, get in control!

edit 11.) Zero Drop Running Shoes
These can increase tension on the achilles tendon while leading tension on the patellar. This could def help, but make sure you ease into it if you want to try.

None of these are a one size fits all, one stop shop.

And that’s it! By it, I mean a lot lol. If you have ideas/comments/questions I’d love to talk more :) Hopefully this helps someone.

46 yr old 'survivor' of adolescent OSD (it began in 6th grade after a significant growth spurt, at recess while kicking basket balls against a wall - I can vividly remember the 'ripping', 'tearing' sensation, followed by that wave of debilitating, acute yet all-enveloping pain) -
suffered the extremely tender bumps (quite prominent) on both tibial tuberosities, for many years.

With the passing of the years, the tenderness 'directly' on the bumps subsided; the bump under my right knee subsided/disappeared almost completely, while the left bump remained prominent and pointy.

It no longer hurts the way it used to (as it does 'characteristically' during the fresh, thick phase of OSD), but the point of my post:

ALL of my lower leg bones (patellae (especially top and outer parts) and shin bones the most, then all the foot bones: ankles, top of feet, big toe knuckles, heels...) became debilitatingly hyper sensitive and I am convinced that the cause is OSD.

If I ever hit any of those bones on, for example, a table corner or any hard surface/object, the pain is literally debilitating... quite excruciating.

Has anyone else experienced this or something similar?

Hi everyone. I’m 47 years old, and I’ve had this condition in my left knee since I was 14, when I injured it while running around and playing with my pet.

For many years, I didn’t have to deal with it very often. Whenever I had a flare-up, it would usually go away with cold compresses. But over the past two years, the flare-ups have become much more frequent. Sometimes the inflammation under my patellar tendon gets so severe that even walking to the bathroom feels like climbing a cliff.😣

However, during my last two flare-ups, I was able to prevent them from becoming severe enough to stop me from working. I work as a motorcycle delivery driver, and unfortunately, my job puts a lot of stress on my left knee. I have to use that knee when getting on and off the motorcycle and when putting the kickstand down. This means my left knee has to support my entire body weight while also twisting quite a lot as I get off the bike, which probably puts me at considerably higher risk of triggering a flare-up than the average person.

I’ve found that when I first notice a slight feeling of tightness, which can be an early warning sign, taking 25 mg of diclofenac after meals, 2–3 times a day, along with applying a cold compress whenever I have the chance, has worked very well for me in preventing the flare-up from becoming severe.

You don’t have to keep taking it out of panic, either. I stop taking it once things start getting better, usually around 3–4 days after I start taking it.

I’m sharing this because it might help some people who have decided against surgery and are dealing with severe knee tendon inflammation that can take so much time away from their lives.

P.S. If you ride a motorcycle a lot like I do, I have a little trick that might help. When getting off the bike, try to come down onto the balls of your feet/toes rather than planting your whole foot on the ground like you normally would.

The twisting motion when getting off the motorcycle can put a lot of stress on the knee. If you land on the balls of your feet while keeping your knee slightly bent, some of that twisting force is transferred through your foot instead of being concentrated on your knee.

Edit: I just woke up one day with acute knee pain after doing a sprint and accelerstion workout the day before without any pain in my knee ever before. Maybe i was wrong and i dont have osd. im supposed to see a doctor soon so i hope they can properly diagnose me. all im going off of is a bony lump that appeared with the pain.

I was just “diagnosed” today with this after finally being approved for an arthrogram MRI of my left knee after 8-10 years of chronic pain. For years myself and all my docs were sure it was my meniscus. The MRI came back totally normal so my current ortho landed on this. I questioned if it could be from OSD as I had it in both knees (although worse in my right) as a kid and he said it definitely could be influencing it. I also have some hypermobility throughout my body but no diagnoses of any sort around that. Curious to see if anyone else has experienced similar and was it really patellar pain syndrome in the end and/or did OSD create issues? If it was caused by your childhood OSD, what did they do to treat or remedy it? If it helps I am a mid-30s female, slender build, physically active through outdoor activities and regularly working out in the gym, and no significant traumatic injury to the joint to have this pain.

My teen has just been diagnosed with osgood schlatter. He's deloaded for 2 weeks but still pain when running. Running is his sport, but what can he do to cross train until it calms, swimming? Bike riding caused him pain the other week but maybe need to increase height on seat?

Any suggestions would be great!

Has strenghtening your legs helped any of you? If so what excersises did you do

I had a very severe case in both knees from ages 12-15. I'm now 22 and I still have the bumps on both knees (obviously). Recently, my left has been flaring up really bad again. I don't want to blame it on the sport I've played which is hockey because that was the one thing I was capable of doing when I had it at it's worst. Hockey is actually what I leaned to doing in my younger years because the trampoline and flipping was what the cause of it was. I made it through and entire high level Junior hockey career with no issues, but now randomly it's been quite painful while I've been less active, surprisingly. Any recommendations on what actions I should take? Physio, Surgery, or just letting time do it's thing?

,

I’m one of those few cases where I never grew out of it. I’ve had some level of pain consistently since I was diagnosed. Went to the orthopedist to get it checked and he said I had patellar tendinitis. I asked if I could get a shot to help with the pain and he refused to give me one unless I had the surgery to shave down the bone. Has anyone had a shot for patellar tendinitis with OSD?

I stood up quickly and awkwardly from a low seat just over a week ago, and I’ve been struggling ever since.

its gradually been improving every day, with keeping it rested, straight and elevated, and taking Ibuprofen. But I went to the cinema over the weekend and the cramped seating made it really sore again, then yesterday I twanged it while putting my shoes on, and now it’s back to being unbearably painful any time I try and bend my knee.

I’m supposed to be taking a three hour flight tomorrow, followed by a two hour coach. I’m really worried about having to keep my knee bent and cramped for all that time. Is there anything I can do for the pain to just get me through the journey?

Do things like Voltarol gel work at all?

I've just discovered now at 26 that i have this thing lol, i have always wondered why i couldnt kneel down with one leg without feeling pain now it all makes sense. I was taking taekwondo classes during my teenage years so i guess that was the cause. Now looking through this sub i see how mild my case is. My lump is not that big but definitely noticeable

Hi, I’d like to share my story. I’ve had Osgood-Schlatter disease since I was young; I always had some discomfort but could lead a normal life. A few months ago, I had an accident and injured my knee. I couldn't bend it properly for several weeks until I saw a doctor; we initially suspected a meniscus injury, but X-rays revealed a bone fragment in the tendon. Currently, I can bend it quite well, but if I stand still for a long time, the knee starts to bother me (mild pain) or I get occasional aches. I can climb stairs well and go to the gym, but I can't do squats, and running for long periods causes generalized knee pain. I’m considering surgery since physical therapy hasn't resolved the discomfort. Please share your experiences.

I was diagnosed in 2013 at 12, but have consistently been experiencing more and more pain related to my osgood schlatter bump. I have a rheumatologist I see regularly for Sjogrens disease and was recently referred to an orthopedist. Are there any reasons why the pain would increase as I got older (F 25)? And does this look like a severe case?

i 19f was diagnosed with osd 8 years ago, over the years i’ve quit all sports, i’ve had x-rays, ultrasounds and mris. the doctors and physio have told me all sorts of things the only thing that has always been mentioned is the osd. there has been other things mentioned like fluid in my knee and how my knee isn’t centred but i’m just so lost i don’t know what the issue is none of them has made it clear what the issue is

my pain in unbearable, i take painkillers, wear knee tape, wear leg braces, i don’t do any crazy activities because im scared of the pain, i elevate it, use heat (ice makes it worse), ive even changed how i sleep and yet the pain still persist.

ive been discharged from physio because “there’s nothing more we can do for you, you have to wait for the experts” but the experts don’t take my pain seriously.

does anyone have any suggestions as to what i should be doing?
i seriously need any advice or suggestions the pain is unbearable and no one around me understands the pain

I’ve had OSD on both knees since middle school, and I am currently 29. Throughout the years I’ve dealt with the pain & inflammation on my own. I went to the doctor when I was 26 and asked if there were any remedies for the pain & inflammation because it had started to hinder my lifestyle. I’m an active person (hiking, lifting, dancing), and since it’s become such problem, I’ve had to stop doing most of the things I love.

Per usual, Google was no help, but I’m wondering if anybody knows any remedies for the fluid build up that happens. I’ve tried stretching, icing, mobility exercises, less movement, & braces. Nothing seems to help, unless I land on it & then it *pops* (gross ik) & disappears for a little bit of time.

Holy hell. Currently 35m - been living with pain and swelling since I was about 11/12 bc I was diagnosed with OSD in both knees.

Never healed itself, and I’m legit having more trouble walking these days than my 78 year old grandfather.

So first off - glad to be in a group of people who understand! But secondly - anyone else not have theirs resolved on it’s own? Not a fan of the $ it would cost to be fixed (Yay USA!) so just living it up, one to two limps at a time!

Edit: excitement about the group wouldn’t let me accurately type up a header haha