No, sadly this is not about that classic sitcome starring the great Alan Thicke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_Pains). I’ve been seeing a bit of this lately and in my opinion it’s pretty basic to take care of so I thought I’d do a little summary to outline what it is and what you can do about it.
As the name would suggest, it is a pain associated with growth, usually rapid growth, like you would see in a growth spurt. In a nutshell what we are talking about is a pain that develops when a bone grows quicker than the muscles attached to it, and so the muscles, which are hanging on for dear life, pull on the bone, resulting in inflammatory pain at the site of the muscle-tendon attachment.
It can occur in different areas of the body, but there are a couple of common sites related to certain age groups. I will outline the presentation in the ankle (“Sever’s disease”) and knee (“Osgood-Schlatter disease”), but the principles remain the same whether it is in the hip (another common site) or anywhere else for that matter.
Both Sever’s and Osgood-Schlatter affect active, sporty kids (8-16 years old) more than layabouts, but anyone who goes through a growth spurt or who has tight muscles can get pain where the muscle pulls on the bone.
Ankle:
Condition: Sever’s Disease “is a partial avulsion of the calcaneal apophysis at the Achilles Tendon insertion”.
Sorry, what the? It is pain on your heel bone where the Achilles Tendon is attached to it.
Why would you get it? If your feet or shin bones grow quicker than the calf muscles (it’s the calf muscles that form the Achilles Tendon) the calf muscles overstrain and this pulls on the heel bone.
What are the symptoms? According to Wikipedia:
Complaints of pain or tenderness in the heel (or heels)
Discomfort upon awaking, or when heel is squeezed
Limping
More severe pain after walking or exercise, and increased difficulty walking
Pain during running or playing a sport
Is there a solution? From reading the above you should be able to see that it’s a pretty basic problem. The only people who I have ever seen have ongoing problems are people who continue to grow at a staggering rate. During the growth spurt you might have to reduce the amount of activity you do (especially if the activity increases your pain), you can ice the area, and stretch the calf muscles. It is more common in people who pronate, so if your symptoms persist, you may require an orthotic to prevent further aggravation.
Does Osteopathic Treatment help? Glad you asked. I reckon it does, as the pain is caused by tight muscles pulling on a bone, and Osteopathic Treatment is excellent at treating tight muscles and mobilising bones.
It is more common in boys, although occurs in girls as well. The average age of symptom onset is 9-11.
Prevention
Maintain good flexibility through stretching exercises
Avoid excessive running on hard surfaces
Use quality, well-fitting shoes with firm support and a shock-absorbent sole
Knee:
Condition: Osgood-Schlatter disease “is a form of traction periostitis of the tibial apophysistis type that manifests as a partial avulsion of the tibial tuberosity”.
Umm, can I have that in English please? Sure. This means that traction (the muscle pulling) on the periosteum (the point of the bone where the muscle attaches) leads to damage at the tibial tuberosity (the top of the shin bone). In this case, it is the quads (the muscles on the front of your upper leg, above your knee) pulling on the top of the shin bone that causes it to grow thicker. It happened to me in my teenage years (a source of teenage angst and self consciousness for me at the time no doubt), and is much more common in sportspeople (If I’ve never bored you with the stories, I was a former promising junior athlete a thousand years ago), but really, it can happen to anyone.
Presentation: It will present as painful sweeling just under the kneecap on the top of the shinbone. The main age group affected is
What can you do about it? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. The muscle is really tight and pulling on the bone – so stretch it. The point where it is pulling is inflamed – so reduce the inflammation (ice, anti-inflammatories, rest from aggravating activities).
No, sadly this is not about that classic sitcome starring the great Alan Thicke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_Pains). I’ve been seeing a bit of this lately and in my opinion it’s pretty basic to take care of so I thought I’d do a little summary to outline what it is and what you can do about it.
As the name would suggest, it is a pain associated with growth, usually rapid growth, like you would see in a growth spurt. In a nutshell what we are talking about is a pain that develops when a bone grows quicker than the muscles attached to it, and so the muscles, which are hanging on for dear life, pull on the bone, resulting in inflammatory pain at the site of the muscle-tendon attachment.
It can occur in different areas of the body, but there are a couple of common sites related to certain age groups. I will outline the presentation in the ankle (“Sever’s disease”) and knee (“Osgood-Schlatter disease”), but the principles remain the same whether it is in the hip (another common site) or anywhere else for that matter.
Both Sever’s and Osgood-Schlatter affect active, sporty kids (8-16 years old) more than layabouts, but anyone who goes through a growth spurt or who has tight muscles can get pain where the muscle pulls on the bone.
Ankle:
Condition: Sever’s Disease “is a partial avulsion of the calcaneal apophysis at the Achilles Tendon insertion”.
Sorry, what the? It is pain on your heel bone where the Achilles Tendon is attached to it.
Why would you get it? If your feet or shin bones grow quicker than the calf muscles (it’s the calf muscles that form the Achilles Tendon) the calf muscles overstrain and this pulls on the heel bone.
What are the symptoms? According to Wikipedia:
Complaints of pain or tenderness in the heel (or heels)
Discomfort upon awaking, or when heel is squeezed
Limping
More severe pain after walking or exercise, and increased difficulty walking
Pain during running or playing a sport
Is there a solution? From reading the above you should be able to see that it’s a pretty basic problem. The only people who I have ever seen have ongoing problems are people who continue to grow at a staggering rate. During the growth spurt you might have to reduce the amount of activity you do (especially if the activity increases your pain), you can ice the area, and stretch the calf muscles. It is more common in people who pronate, so if your symptoms persist, you may require an orthotic to prevent further aggravation.
Does Osteopathic Treatment help? Glad you asked. I reckon it does, as the pain is caused by tight muscles pulling on a bone, and Osteopathic Treatment is excellent at treating tight muscles and mobilising bones.
It is more common in boys, although occurs in girls as well. The average age of symptom onset is 9-11.
Prevention
Maintain good flexibility through stretching exercises
Avoid excessive running on hard surfaces
Use quality, well-fitting shoes with firm support and a shock-absorbent sole
Knee:
Condition: Osgood-Schlatter disease “is a form of traction periostitis of the tibial apophysistis type that manifests as a partial avulsion of the tibial tuberosity”.
Umm, can I have that in English please? Sure. This means that traction (the muscle pulling) on the periosteum (the point of the bone where the muscle attaches) leads to damage at the tibial tuberosity (the top of the shin bone). In this case, it is the quads (the muscles on the front of your upper leg, above your knee) pulling on the top of the shin bone that causes it to grow thicker. It happened to me in my teenage years (a source of teenage angst and self consciousness for me at the time no doubt), and is much more common in sportspeople (If I’ve never bored you with the stories, I was a former promising junior athlete a thousand years ago), but really, it can happen to anyone.
Presentation: It will present as painful sweeling just under the kneecap on the top of the shinbone. The main age group affected is
What can you do about it? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. The muscle is really tight and pulling on the bone – so stretch it. The point where it is pulling is inflamed – so reduce the inflammation (ice, anti-inflammatories, rest from aggravating activities).
No, sadly this is not about that classic sitcome starring the great Alan Thicke. I’ve been seeing a few people come in with “Growing Pains” lately and in my opinion it’s pretty basic to take care of so I thought I’d do a little summary to outline what it is and what you can do about it.
As the name would suggest, it is a pain associated with growth, usually rapid growth, like you would see in a growth spurt. In a nutshell what we are talking about is a pain that develops when a bone grows quicker than the muscles attached to it, and so the muscles, which are hanging on for dear life, pull on the bone, resulting in inflammatory pain at the site of the muscle-tendon attachment.
It can occur in different areas of the body, but there are a couple of common sites related to certain age groups. I will outline the presentation in the ankle (“Sever’s disease”) and knee (“Osgood-Schlatter disease”), but the principles remain the same whether it is in the hip (another common site) or anywhere else for that matter.
Both Sever’s and Osgood-Schlatter affect active, sporty kids (8-16 years old) more than layabouts, but anyone who goes through a growth spurt or who has tight muscles can get pain where the muscle pulls on the bone.
Ankle:
Condition: Sever’s Disease “is a partial avulsion of the calcaneal apophysis at the Achilles Tendon insertion”.
Sorry, what the? It is pain on your heel bone where the Achilles Tendon is attached to it.
Why would you get it? If your feet or shin bones grow quicker than the calf muscles (it’s the calf muscles that form the Achilles Tendon) the calf muscles overstrain and this pulls on the heel bone.
What are the symptoms? According to Wikipedia:
- Complaints of pain or tenderness in the heel (or heels)
- Discomfort upon awaking, or when heel is squeezed
- Limping
- More severe pain after walking or exercise, and increased difficulty walking
- Pain during running or playing a sport
Is there a solution? From reading the above you should be able to see that it’s a pretty basic problem. The only people who I have ever seen have ongoing problems are people who continue to grow at a staggering rate. During the growth spurt you might have to reduce the amount of activity you do (especially if the activity increases your pain), you can ice the area, and stretch the calf muscles. It is more common in people who pronate, so if your symptoms persist, you may require an orthotic to prevent further aggravation.
Does Osteopathic Treatment help? Glad you asked. I reckon it does, as the pain is caused by tight muscles pulling on a bone, and Osteopathic Treatment is excellent at treating tight muscles and mobilising bones.
Knee:
Condition: Osgood-Schlatter disease “is a form of traction periostitis of the tibial apophysistis type that manifests as a partial avulsion of the tibial tuberosity”.
Umm, can I have that in English please? Sure. This means that traction (the muscle pulling) on the periosteum (the point of the bone where the muscle attaches) leads to damage at the tibial tuberosity (the top of the shin bone). In this case, it is the quads (the muscles on the front of your upper leg, above your knee) pulling on the top of the shin bone that causes it to grow thicker. It happened to me in my teenage years (a source of great angst and self consciousness for me at the time no doubt), and is much more common in sportspeople but really, it can happen to anyone.
Presentation: From PubMed:
- The main symptom is painful swelling over a bump on the lower leg bone (shinbone). Symptoms occur on one or both legs.
- The person may have leg pain or knee pain, which gets worse with running, jumping, and climbing stairs.
- The area is tender to pressure, and swelling ranges from mild to very severe.
What can you do about it? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. The muscle is really tight and pulling on the bone – so stretch it. The point where it is pulling is inflamed – so reduce the inflammation (ice, anti-inflammatories, rest from aggravating activities).
Will Osteopathic Treatment help? Well, I’m biased, but I’d say it should. If the quads are too tight we can loosen them, if the tendon insertion on the bone is inflamed we can work on that too.
Photo Source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/81/241873015_d2d0337b83.jpg
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