Popping Knees?

Whenever you have a concern, get it checked out. We as adult (males) tend to shy away from the DR. Go and get your concerns addressed for you kids sake at this early age.

If you can, keep us informed.

FieldBuilder

....you teach me baseball and I'll teach you relativity...No we must not, You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball.
--Albert Einstein

I agree that you should get this looked into.

cong

"In baseball, you don't know nothing." - Yogi

Definately look into it, could just be tendons stretching and could be something serious.

http://www.highviewheat.com/index.asp

http://www.kristensfastpitchworld.com/index.asp

My son is a 13 yo catcher and has caught ever since tee ball. His knees also popped around 11-12. Was checked out by a doctor and nothing big found.

However, he now has Osgood schlatter's (sp?) in his right knee. Doctors say nothing you can do about this except grow through it. It is caused by the tendon below the knee being overstretched by the quad muscle and pulling on the bone right under the knee. It is painful, but the doctor's and pro catching coach say just take ibuprofen, and keep stretching. The actual process of the catcher's squat helps stretch the tendon. Eventually he will grow out of it and have a nice little bump below his knee.

Surgery would be the absolute last resort...

But jjinmo, absolutely have your son checked. The knees are the key to the catcher's ability to stick with it.

Good luck and keep us posted...

Osgood-Shlatter's disease(commonly known as shin splints) affects mostly boys in and around age 13....now affecting girls as they become more active in sports...need to have a firm diagnosis given by an MD as to this being the direct cause of the "popping" feeling...my son found that at that age utilizing knee savers alleviated a great deal of pressure off his knees...he does not need them now but they did do their desired job during his "formative" years...but you MUST see an MD for a definitive cause

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Thanks everyone for the advice and info. I have made an appointment with the Doc. to have him checked out. Hopefully its nothing serious.
Thanks again,
JJ

jjnmo,
I didn't see your post earlier, but must agree with the "see the Orthopedist".
My son, too, had the problem you describe. It started about 10 yrs of age. He wound up growing 11" in the next 2 years! His feet went from 10 1/2 to 13 in 5 mo. then to 14's a couple months later.
Osgoods will be with him til he finishes growing, but the popping stopped when the growth slowed.He's only grown a little over 3 inches the last 3 yrs and his feet are "holding" @ 14's.
His growth plates are still open, so he still has a way to go...
Osgoods basically put an end to his catching and playing basketball. It is very painful!
But the trade off is that he's turned into a great pitcher!

Good move to go see the doctor. It probably wouldn't hurt to ration the catching a little. I'm no expert, but popping, while perhaps not bad, is never good.

I agree with the advice to get the popping checked out, but also wanted to share a little reassurance from my son's experience. He is a 17-yr-old HS pitcher (almost 18), 6'4" and very thin. His knees and ankles made popping and cracking noises when he walked throughout most of his growth spurts in HS (we checked with a doc a couple of times and were told nothing was wrong). He is finally slowing down on the height increases (although still hopes to get to 6'5" or so in college), and is no longer Mr. Snap, Crackle, Pop! I can't even hear him walking down the stairs ...

Just to let everyone know. The Doc. checked out his knees and said they are sound. He said as long as the popping does not hurt, don't worry about it. But if it starts hurting, he needs to be looked at again.
At least I do feel much better about letting him put that catchers gear back on.

It's always best to know for sure.

Good Luck!

Jason

Good to hear that things are OK...

Best of luck to him.

cong

"In baseball, you don't know nothing." - Yogi

Yea, I know my knees popped every day from age 10-13 and I'm a pitcher :-). And on the topic of Osgood Schlatter, are you sure it's the same thing as shin splints? I had it for roughly a year when i was 11-12 (pitching was near impossible, and I found myself icing every 15 minutes after a game for about an hour), and its solely in the knee. It affects no part of your lower leg, so I don't see how it's related to shin splints (I've had shin splints as well, that's what track does to you when you first start out).

Neither the knee popping or osgood schlatter result in permanent harm, and the popping results in no harm at all according to my doctor.
Good Luck.

P.S. FlippJ, you didn't happen to frequent Dick Mills' site did you...

NJ Pitch

Osgood -Shlatters disease is not shin splints. It is an inflammation of the growth plate at the top of the tibia near where the patella tendon inserts. A fairly large knot (increase bone density ) can form and it is super sensitive to touch.

Popping ( like popping the knuckles) I have heard is air displacement across a joint through a forced range of motion. I'm shakey on the cause probably joint laxity.

My son dislocated his throwing elbow as a child and his pops everytime he extends it. I'm concerned but haven't done anything.

NJPitcher06, I'm the same FlippJ.

Our son has struggled with OS since he was 12. He was told he would outgrow it by our orthopedist and quietly suffered through years of escalating knee pain. Eventually we took him to a knee specialist who surgically removed several bone chips from his knee the summer before his senior year in HS. The surgery and rehab were tough, but did relieve the pain he'd been dealing with for years. It made a huge difference in his pitching, too. I've always wondered if this could have been prevented or diminished with early diagnosis and treatment.

My advice would be to always have any bone or joint issues checked out by an orthopedist. If the problem continues past 6 months, get a second opinion. You will never get these years of bone growth and development back.

Thanks TXMom,
If it starts hurting I will get another opinion. At this point, it does not hurt. Just kind of parinoid because he already has had a femur fracture in that leg, resulting in 3 weeks in the hospital with a 5 inch pin sticking thru his knee followed by a body cast from the chest down for 8 weeks...we don't ever want to go thru that again. That's why I am nervous about leg and joint problems.

Wow...you've really been through it!
Both of our sons have had injuries requiring surgery and it made them better ball players in the end.
I'm sure your son will be fine. Glad to hear you checked in out, though.

One thing---see a doctor-- every kid is different-- see a good orthopedic guy !!!

TRhit

Osgood-Schlatter, as one poster said, is caused by trauma (micro tears) to the growth plate just below the kneecap. It is most often seen in long-boned (taller) athletes at the age of 13 since at this time they are rapidly gaining strength yet their growth plates are still soft and unfused. My son suffered this from the constant running on the hardcourt required in select basketball. Some people still recommend taking pain relievers and playing through it...don't do it! Further damage to the growth plate can have life long consequences. Better to rest them until the pain completely subsides.

I to have osgood schlatter and it really hurts.It only hurts when it gets hit or touched.what should i do?