Fall sports are starting up around Norwalk and Fairfield County. Soccer, football, and cross country practices are back, and so are the aches that come with them. Many parents notice their child limping after practice and wonder if it is just normal growing pains or something that needs attention. The truth is, both things can happen at the same time, and knowing the difference helps you know what to do next.
What Is Osgood-Schlatter Disease?
One of the most common causes of knee pain in young athletes is Osgood-Schlatter disease. It happens when the growth plate just below the kneecap gets irritated from repeated pulling by the thigh muscles. This usually shows up during growth spurts, in kids between about 8 and 15 years old, especially those who run and jump a lot. A 2023 review in American Family Physician found that most youth sports injuries happen at these weaker growth spots in the bones, not in the muscles themselves (1). The good news is that Osgood-Schlatter disease almost always fades on its own once a child stops growing, according to a 2024 case study in Orthopedic Reviews (2).
Growing Pains or Real Injury: How Can You Tell?
True growing pains usually show up at night, in both legs, and are not tied to one spot or one activity. Pain from an overuse injury like Osgood-Schlatter disease is different. It shows up during or after activity, stays in one exact spot, like the bump below the kneecap, and can come with swelling. Heel pain often works the same way. A condition called Sever’s disease causes heel pain in active kids in a similar spot each time. A 2024 systematic review in the Journal of Clinical Medicine looked at eight studies and found that simple treatments like stretching, foot orthoses, and taping helped ease Sever’s disease symptoms (3).
Why Are So Many Young Athletes Getting Hurt?
Part of the answer is how kids play sports today. Many stick to one sport all year instead of rotating through seasons. A 2023 study in the Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine followed more than 1,300 former high school athletes and found that those who specialized early in one team sport had a higher rate of overuse injuries than kids who played several sports growing up (4). A larger 2024 study in the Journal of Athletic Training backed this up. It found that highly specialized young athletes had overuse injuries about 54 to 59 percent of the time, compared with 45 percent among athletes who played more than one sport (5).
What Can Parents Do to Help?
Rest and ice are still the first steps for most of these injuries. Stretching the muscles around the hips and knees can also take pressure off growing joints, the same idea behind how targeted stretching helps with shin splints. Encourage your child to try more than one sport instead of specializing too early. If pain does not ease up after a week or two, or if it is bad enough to limit walking, it is worth getting checked out. Options like physical therapy, proper footwear, or chiropractic care can all play a role in helping a young athlete recover and stay active, much like the approach used for stubborn heel pain or a heavy backpack pulling on a growing spine. A doctor or sports medicine provider can help sort out exactly what is causing the pain and the best plan to fix it.
Growing pains are a normal part of childhood, but not every ache should be brushed off that way. Paying attention to where the pain shows up and when it happens is often enough to tell the two apart, and to get your young athlete back on the field feeling their best.
Sources
- Lintner LJ, Swisher J, Sitton ZE. Childhood and Adolescent Sports-Related Overuse Injuries. American Family Physician. 2023;108(6):544-553.
- Chandra R, Malik S, Ganti L, Minkes RK. Diagnosis and Management of Osgood Schlatter Disease. Orthopedic Reviews. 2024;16:121395.
- Hernandez-Lucas P, Leiros-Rodriguez R, Garcia-Lineira J, Diez-Buil H. Conservative Treatment of Sever’s Disease: A Systematic Review. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2024;13(5):1391.
- Nagano Y, Oyama T. Early Sport Specialization Trends and Injuries in Former High School Athletes Specialized in Sports. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;14:1-7.
- Murday PF, McLoughlin DE, Wild JT, Kwon S, Burgess J, LaBella CR. Injury Patterns in Highly Specialized Youth Athletes: A Comparison of 2 Pathways to Specialization. Journal of Athletic Training. 2024;59(2):112-120.
