Question
Good Day Doc:
my 13 year old son is a fencing varsity member at school  and he has to undergo training at least 2x a week with warm ups such as jogging, squat jumping etc, recently he complained of a  painful knee which persists for already 5 months according to him, his pediatrician diagnosed him as having the osgood schlatter disease and advised him to wear a knee brace while training and ice compress and to rest as much as possible, but the pedia  said its ok if my son continued his training as long as the coach is aware that he has this condition and not to let him do vigorous jumping or running exercises.
my question is will it cause permanent damage to the knees if he continued to train even if not vigorously? and boys this age are difficult to refrain from running nor jumping, his knee condition is not deteriorating  however i read in the internet that some rare cases require surgery later on, I'm very worried, please advise, thank you!

Answer
This Chicago Podiatrist, Elmhurst Podiatrist & South Loop Podiatrist says.......

Dear Jeanne,

Regarding your son's knee pain.
Pain is not normal!It is the body telling you something is wrong I respectfully disagree to ask a child to play through pain Your son is not a professional athlete, nor an adult.
The area of pain may become enlarged if your son continues to play, and other potential problems.
PRICE
Protect-Wear a knee brace until it calms down.
Rest--1-3 weeks ( all workout activity ) ( this is the most important!) Gentle range of motion is OK
Ice- Up to 30 minutes when it hurts.
Compress-Wrap it if it hurts a lot-not too tight and loosen every few hours. Try wwwAnkleNFoot.com-there are some knee brace or wrap examples
Elevate-Not necessary in this case
Try some NSAIDS for a 1-2 days-Children's Advil and then stop them when the pain subsides and you give it rest for 1-3 weeks.
Then train slow-Wear a brace or wrap.

Hope This Helps

Dr George Tsatsos--Red Belt Shidokan Karate, Black Belt Tae Kwon Do, Advanced Skier & Open Water Diver. Fellow American College of Pediatric Foot & Ankle Orthopedics. Mmember- American College of Sports Medicine
Podiatrist Chicago 60618 & Elmhurst 60126 Podiatrists
Board Certified in Foot and Ankle Surgery & Orthopedics
New South Loop Location-Chicago 60661
AnkleNFoot.com
Runnersdoc.com
BabyFootDoc.com
LaserforToenails.com

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