Sore Knees

Your son is at the stage where "growth Spurts" begin---it may be just a stage in his life---and very natural


I would see another doctor

quote:

My question is, should this start getting better with rest as we reach the "off season"? Should we consider investigating this further withing the medical field? Has anyone else out there experienced anything similiar?

May want to look into Osgood-Slaughters I believe it is called. Basically, it's where the bones grow faster than the rest of the body can and that causes pain mainly around the knee.

It is something that he should grow out of...

Hi,

My son, then 14, was having knee pain last year, while he was the starting catcher for his JV team... His orthopedist was concerned about possible tears in his meniscus(es), so he ordered an MRI... Turns out there were no tears, but we did learn something that really helped that I can share with you...

The patellar tendon~ the big tendon that runs across the front of the kneecap, can become inflamed and cause pain (this is where my son's pain was)... While not a true tendonitis, the symptoms are similar... My son's doctor explained that catchers have strong, bulky hamstring and quad. muscles, which can cause tightness in the patellar tendon... When my son started doing exercises to lengthen his quad and hamstring muscles, thus making them more flexible, the tension on the tendon eased up for him!

At age 12, my son too was feeling some soreness in his knees. It turned out to just be "growing pains". It was worse some days more than others and would come and go. Hopefully this all that your son is experiencing, but it definitely never hurts to be sure. Best of luck to the young man.

Thanks to everyone for the replies!

Sign caller's Ma, do you remember any of the stretches, or exercises?

Anyone else with any suggestions?

Hi,

I do not recall specific exercises; however, anything your son can do to stretch his hamstrings and quads I'm sure would be beneficial!

I would have him seen by a doctor first, though, before beginning any new exercise regimen...

My son heard the 'growing pains' diagnosis at one point, too, so I guess there is something to that!

My 13 y.o. (turned 13 11/4!) has played catcher since he was 8 and has the same knee pains. Some Dr's lump it under the general term "growing pains" but, in my son's case, it was Osgood-Schlatter.
O-S, as I understand it, is when the the tendon running through the opening in the top of the shin that attaches to the patellar becomes inflamed. If the bony knot on the top of the shin bone just under the knee cap is sore, that is probably O-S. What we've done is rest, ice, and ibruprofen. And, as stated above, stretch, stretch, stretch!! I thought my son was flexible and he has always played for coaches who did proper warm ups and stretching, but that was not enough. Especially, when they are at that age and the bones grow a lot faster than the ligaments/tendons. We started doing just hamstring AND quad stretches at home in addition to whatever he does at practice and it has made a big difference. His knees still get sore, but not nearly as much or as bad and we continue to ice and ibuprofen after games. Also, he is playing on a 14:U team this fall, so he is not the #1 catcher and catches every other game which has allowed him to rest more than usual.

I hope this helps, but please talk with your Dr and get his opinion and advice. Good luck.

One of the biggest things I noticed after getting a little older was the catchers stance, especially with no runners on base. alot of catcher jam their kness together, i've heard others refer to this as "edging", squatting extremely on the inside of the foot, almost to the point that only their big toe is the only toe in contact with the ground.

Puts a ton of pressure on the patella

Best/ closest example of this in my mind is the old mariners catcher dan wilson

Wow this thread was brought back with perfect timing.My son just went to the doctor last week for knee pain.He is also a catcher, as one of the positions he plays,and is experiencing pain in one knee.His doctor threw a fancy medical term at me which may have been OS.She said that basically the bones are growing faster than his muscles and tendons are and it's common with youth athletes.The tendon that connects the shin bone to the knee cap is partially torn and we have been icing it down after activity with good results.---I was wondering if this would be something that he would have to deal with on a regular basis.I will look into the streching excersices.

quote:

Originally posted by Sugi:
Wow this thread was brought back with perfect timing.My son just went to the doctor last week for knee pain.He is also a catcher, as one of the positions he plays,and is experiencing pain in one knee.His doctor threw a fancy medical term at me which may have been OS.She said that basically the bones are growing faster than his muscles and tendons are and it's common with youth athletes.The tendon that connects the shin bone to the knee cap is partially torn and we have been icing it down after activity with good results.---I was wondering if this would be something that he would have to deal with on a regular basis.I will look into the streching excersices.

Sounds like Osgood Schlatters. Very common and usually doesn't prohibit overall ability. However, it can be painful at times.

Well this is all new to me so any advice on how any of you have handled this type of injury is allways appreciated.He was having pain only when running for a couple of weeks.We've been having him wear a brace and icing after activity and he's feeling good now.I'm thinking about taping his leg under his knee cap to add support and do some additional stretching.
This comes at a bad time as he is playing Basketball and Baseball at the same time this time of year.He's feeling good now so I'm looking at more preventative maintenence ,so to speak,for now.

Suri,
I just read your post and signed up to let you and others know some important information about " cathers knees".
My son, who is know a freshman in college, has been a catcher for at least ten years, had pain in his knee half way through his senior year. I took him to the doctor after the game and he was told he had a bruised knee cap or bruised pattella. He was told to rest it for a couple weeks and keep ice on it also to take Alive. Doctor told him it would be sore for a while. He sat out for two games than returned to play. After a month, pain was still there.
We went back to see the doctor and was told "it will take time to heal". Finally on our third visit we asked to go to an Ortho doctor who specialized in sports treatment. After a month, we got into see the Ortho doctor and had an MRI done. It showed nothing and were informed that MRI's are usually 85% correct and that he had looseness in his knee he probably had a torn PCL. He had to wait for 6 weeks before surgery and the knee was found to have a completely severed ACL not PCL and had it replaced.
Only because we demanded to see a doctor that specialized in sports injuries, were we able to find out what was wrong.
Sorry this is so long winded, but when it comes to knee injuries go to someone that will check it out completely. It cost us over four thousand dollars in summer ball fees and he was only able to play very limitly and lost two D2 scholarships because of listening to the first doctor.
He is now playing for a J.C. and will be released from the doctor to play on Feb. 5

Hi all,
Sugi, I would check into a sports ortho if possible and see what they say. My son,13,is playing basketball now too and indoor baseball practice just started also.

In the fall, he ran cross country. Toward the end of October we started limited basketball practice. I thought he would be in great shape after all the running in XC. Well, after about 2 weeks of BB he started to have pain in his right foot (arch area). We took him to a local foot doc, she taped it up, suggested ice and ibuprofen.

He continued to play through the discomfort and we finally took him to a sports ortho who also suggested ibuprofen and orthotics (he has very flat feet). So, we had some very expensive orthotics made. At first, they helped some but he continued to have pain.

I then took a co-workers advice and visited a local sports chiro. This Doc has been fantastic for my son. He made him different orthotics (at a fraction of the cost) and did some ultrasound therapy and also did some adjustments (foot and knee). We don't visit chiros on a regular basis so this was a pleasant surprise.

Please check out different docs in your area and ask around...your son shouldn't have to be in pain....

Tooldforthis,Welcome to HSBBW for one and thank you for joining to reply to my post.Iowabbmom,thank you as well.

I originally inquired about sending him to a Sports Doctor that I had good results from but he didn't have an opening soon enough.I took him to his Pediatric doctor just to get checked and was going to take him to the sports dr. if the pain persist.He is doing fine now and we'll see how he does this weekend in his games.If the injury reoccurs,we will definitely see a Ortho.Allthough he is still very young,I don't want to down play an injury now and regret it later.

Mahalo!!