Osgood-Schlatter Disease

2018 was diagnosed with a severe case of it last year...PT gave numerous stretches to perform 3-4 times a day...he wears a knee sleeve to assist as he says it feels better and continues the stretches (even though not at the same frequency).  Doctor says he can still do sports (he runs winter track as well as baseball all year) as long as he can tolerate the soreness...

I have two sons, both 6'3".  The younger one struggled with it for a long time, the older one never did.  Both played basketball and that is primarily when it bothered the younger one.  I guess it would depend on how much it is affecting him.  Given that he is a 2018, I would probably shut him down if he were mine.  You've got plenty of time.  Just my opinion.

That's sort of the x-factor. My son went in for some scheduled PT for a pulled glute before we head to Minneapolis for a tournament and, out of the blue, he tells the doctor that his left knee has been bothering him and that there's a lump below the kneecap. He had never complained about it before and it was news to me, but says it's been bothering him for a couple of weeks.

What therapy has ortho recommended? 

Depending on how severe it is, rest may be enough for the time being. But, it may well become bothersome/painful, again & again, even after he's finished growing.

 

Son finally had 2 rounds of PRP's in fall of 2013. Found out his patella was also partially torn. Being a pitcher, it was getting pretty painful the end of every season. Did this in off season, just in time, as it turned out. No pounding/running/leg exercises for 6-8 weeks. 

He's been fit as a fiddle since. 

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roothog,

Your son appears to be very, very talented.

My immediate reaction is that following the doctor's advice on the knees will get him through the condition, over time.

My other and more important longer term consideration, and why I would favor the approach of shutting him down and rest, is the potential risk to his arm/shoulder if he tries to pitch through the pain and discomfort in his knees. The way it was discovered recently in the doctor's office suggests your son is probably pretty stoic, probably more than that.

You probably already know this but trying to favor/overcome lower body discomfort for pitchers has a very long history of compensatory impact on the elbow, arm and shoulder.

I like your perspective  of this being a potential positive in disguise. While the doctors can provide the best projections on the knees, the risks, in my view, are elsewhere, especially with the talent level of your son.

The doctor just recommended a pretty serious stretching routine for now. Hopefully that - and some rest - will help a lot. You'd think he'd be through growing soon.

I had to look this up:

 

Osgood–Schlatter disease (also known as apophysitis of the tibial tubercle or OSD) is an inflammation of the patellar ligament at the tibial tuberosity. It is characterized by a painful lump just below the knee and is most often seen in young adolescents. Risk factors include overuse (especially in sports involving running, jumping and quick changes of direction) and adolescent growth spurts. 

 

So the prevention is not to play on more than one team and only during baseball season?  

You're reading my mind. As a pitching coach, that's my bigger worry - that he'll compensate for the discomfort by adjusting (in a bad way) his mechanics. He's got the Minnesota tourney, one pretty important PBR showcase (goes a ways toward determining 2018 rankings), and a college prospect scheduled for a D1 that has shown interest and is his "dream school." I'm thinking of monitoring his mechanics while finishing out the schedule, then giving him September through January off and gearing up for the HS schedule in February. He won't like it, but I'd hate to see him struggling with this going into the summer between Soph and Junior years.

I would shut him down. Look at the big picture! My son is dealing with an injury now. Take the time to get him 100% healthy especially since he is still only a 2018.

infielddad is 100% correct! this is very likely to affect his mechanics & to compensate, shoulder & elbow may suffer. I'd shut him down. And, fwiw, he may not stop growing till he's 20-22, so the Osgood-Schlatter may be ongoing for some time, unfortunately. 

 

Son gave up basketball abt 15 because it was just too painful. He struggled with this until he was 25 & underwent the PRP's (fall 2013).

 

 

 

Thanks for the link. Yeah, there's a family history of late growth. My father-in-law went from 6' 6" to 6' 10" after he married at 19.

I've had it all of my life.  I didn't stop and have two huge bumps at 58 years of age to show for it.  Whenever your son has to get on his knees it will hurt like heck. 

This is probably why his upper body had issues and agree that sooner or later his shoulder or arm or elbow would be at risk.

Your son never told you about his knee because your emphasis is on the upper body and maybe he didn't understand the connection.  This is why I don't see value for young players using machines like marcpro. 

 

This condition is very serious, to even think of continuing to play is dangerous. My daughters boyfriend took the attitude just a few more games and his son ended up on crutches for 8 weeks plus therapy.

This would be a great time for you to have someone who is a certified trainer to help even up those shoulders, because that created an issue for my son later on. Do it now before he goes off to college.

This is a very good reason why two teams or two sports at one time doesnt work for young growing bodies.

Good luck.

One day my son complained on our drive home and showed me his knee. I was shocked at seeing a lump the size of a golf ball. Got home and iced him down. Went to Dr. Who diagnosed him with Osgood Schlatter. His advice helped my son DRAMATICALLY.. He had my son take 400iu of vitamin E and 150 iu of selenium daily. He also had my son sit on his bed with leg hanging off side. I had to deep message the leg going with the grain of the muscle never across. He also had to slowly stretch quads every day. He was shut down for a month but he was pain free. The key to not having a relapse is getting the kid to stretch the quads properly all the time going forward. My son is a catcher by the way.

Happened to my kid.  We've known about the O-S since about 8th grade.  In the past year pitching coaches at camps noted that he was "recoiling," in some cases so bad that his hips were actually moving backwards at release.  Eventually we traced the recoiling to him stiffening his front knee at footstrike, which we later determined was a habit he got into to avoid the pain from the O-S.

 

As a result, he either doesn't get out over his front foot at all because either his front leg stops all his forward momentum (kills his velo), or he "pole-vaults" (for lack of a better term) over his front leg which causes all kinds of vertical command problems.

 

It's proving a hard habit to break.

 

Aside from whatever therapy is prescribed, get him some patellar bands and make him wear them during any physical activity, even if his knees aren't hurting.

I have the huge lumps below my knee caps as well, diagnosed in 9th grade.  For me it wasn't just my knees that hurt, the bones in my legs decided to join the party too.  I took a season off from basketball and was introduced to Yoga, it helped a LOT!  If you are looking to shut him down, but increase his flexibility there is such a thing as yoga for baseball players!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Yo...ds=yoga+for+baseball