We’ve all heard the term often labelled at young teens who likely for the first time are experiencing a deep-lying ache around their bones and joints – often times prompting parents to visit their GP in hopes of a diagnosis and solution. Only to be told that their child has “growing pains”, and that they essentially must grin and bear it until…they stop growing?
A firm reason as to why the team at ESP Physio place such an importance on delivering a prompt clinical impression of likely diagnoses and will always provide an early management plan at your initial appointment is because we understand how disheartening it can be to be given rather generic answers and feeling directionless on where to go next. With Physiotherapy we are trained to have a vast toolkit of ways to aid people – though our most important skill is helping others help themselves with expert guidance and advice.
So, lets delve into a few specific conditions that previously would all fall under the banner of ‘Growing Pains’ and briefly run-through the specifics of what some of them ACTUALLY are and what you can start doing about them:
If there is one condition most often referred to as just growing pains that many have already heard of it’s this particularly infamous one.
It is in fact so infamous that we already have a blog post dedicated specifically to this one that you can read about here. So if you or a adolescent family member is reporting pain around the tibial tubercle, you can now likely put a proper name to your growing pains – Osgood Schlatter Disease.
To briefly summarise the main points of management, what must be considered is:
Physiotherapists work to assess these factors and personalise them to the person so that they can best manage their recovery without giving up too much of what’s important.
SLJS is seemingly a far lesser-known growth-related knee pain diagnosis. Similar to Osgood-Schlatter’s in which active adolescents (typically aged 9-15) particularly those involved in running and jumping sports (basketball and football being the common culprits) are at a much greater risk of developing this condition.
SLJS is even commonly misdiagnosed as Osgood-Schlatter Disease despite it being relatively simple to decipher between the two. While OSD presents with pain at the tibial tubercle, SLJS is felt primarily higher up at the base on the patella (Kneecap bone) and along to top of the patella tendon it is attached to.
Swelling and tenderness at the base of the patella are common, while the condition is painful it should not impact range of motion or function beyond being increasingly uncomfortable the more activity is done at once on the knee, though the knee may also be sore when kneeling, squatting, or from stairs.
The same guidance as seen and used for OSD as seen above can be modified to apply to SLJS management. Alongside this you may also wish to consider:
Evidence supports the use of relative rest strategies, cryotherapy, passive mobilization (Hands-on manual therapy), muscle stretching and isometric exercises, with some support for the short-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication where appropriate if the person is of age and able to take safely.
One of the most common causes of heel pain in growing children, especially children who are very physically active. Put simply, it is an inflammation of the growth plate in the calcaneus (heel). Severs Disease tends to present a little younger that OSD and SLJS, typically around ages 12-13 and typically does not last as long. As before it is an issue that worsens with repetitive activity and eases with rest, and similar management strategies still apply.
Specifics to consider for this issue include:
OSD, SLJS, and Severs Disease all feature non-descriptive names which do not explain the actual pathological process of the injury – so for those particularly interested in the science of it all:
So hopefully reading this brief outline gets you started on feeling more in control of these kinds of issues and crucially shows you that there are in fact things you can do to help manage the process of growth-related conditions. The team at ESP Physio are well-versed in assessing, treating, and composing personalised management plans to fully optimise recovery for all the above conditions and will strive to help you better understand the ins and outs and ups and downs of this process. Always come armed with questions!
You can book yourself in for a physiotherapy appointment with us here or if you prefer to speak to someone, call us at 01324 227 370 or drop us an email at info@espphysio.com and we will get you going in no time!
Written by Adam Gilmartin BSc (Hons), MSc, MCSP, MHCPC
