Adult Osgood-Schlatter's sufferers?

Does anyone else have this condition (an inflamation of the growth plate around the knee)?  It's typically found in teenagers (I'm 24) and I'm curious how others deal with it, particularly adults? Thanks

I have the same thing -- in fact I have had it since i was a teenager and involved in many sports, including basketball, soccer, and softball -- i am now 28 and actually still have a big protrusion of the bone below my right knee -- it does not particulalry bother me anymore - probably because I do not exercise as much as i should -- but you can get an orthotic - basically a band to go around the bottom of the knee which controls the internal rottion of the tibia-- if if hurts after exercise that may help

something like this

http://www.knee.ortho-net.com/fl/knee-gel-ban d.htm

Thanks, I thought I might have to just suck it up and get another brace.  Btw, does the pain in your knee fluxuate depending on what activities you've been doing recently?  I went off leg work for about a month-6 weeks, and the knee felt much better.  Two weeks of squats 3-4 times a weeks, and it hurt like hell.  Any suggestions (other than quit doing what hurts, obviously)?  Also, what works better for you, heat or ice?  Sorry for all the questions, just nice to have a fellow traveler.  Thanks again.

I prefer heat - but the best thing I do for it is take advil!  It is strange because sometimes I can work my knee vigorously on the elliptical or even jogging - but when I go to climb a stair I get PAIN! So it definitely fluxuates with activity -- I try to stretch my legs A LOT before I exercise because I find that it helps as well.

I SUFFERED (I mean really suffered) from this as a teen.  Guessing I grew out of it soon after high school. 

I played a lot of sports but, as I recall, I had pain even when not actively doing somthing. 

This was many years ago, and basically the Dr and parents pretty much said to suck it up.  I know I didn't receive and medication or sports wraps for it.  I'm glad the times are a changin'.  It seems there are more products out to help with this.

BTW, I still suffer from legs cramps which I had my whole life.  Same boat.  I'm bummed because my daugther started having the same problem at 4.

Thanks to everybody for the replies.  Looks like ice and advil are the general issue solution.  Spade210, have you ever gotten an explanation for how you can still have the condition after the growth plate has (I assume) completely fused?  Just curious, thanks for all the help.

I realize this is an old thread but...

I have been a long-time O-S sufferer. I'm now 45 and after spending a long time as an engineer, have gone into fitness.  I always suffered with the knee pain, even after becoming an adult and being told many times by many doctors that there is no way that my knee could hurt, because OS was a childhood problem. I found that if I bent my knee for a long time (airplane rides, car drives), or sat strangely at work, or took a lot of stairs or did squats, I was in severe pain. Now, as a fitness instructor, I'm really stuck. In my case, I'm affected in only one knee. At least I have one good side. However, my non-affected side has a thigh that is about twice the size as the affected one. I have trouble straightening my knee and even bending it. Because of the somewhat restricted movement, I was given an operation for meniscus tear. While I did have problems inside the knee, that damage was just incidental. All that operation -- the time off, the money -- was just wasted because it didn't help.

Now, there has been a proposal to take off the giant bump. This seems like a good idea to me, but the recovery time is something like 4-6 months and I am not sure that I can go that long without working out.

I find that the tendon straps recommended above actually aggravate my knee if I use them while exercising.

Although everyone recommends ice, I find that a combination of heat and then ice actually works best.

I do NOT take advil and I think it's a little dangerous to do it. I just feel that the pain is there for a reason -- to protect you from moving the knee around -- and therefore it's probably a good idea NOT to take advil.  Turns out that the physical therapist I was seeing for a while actually believes the same thing.

It seems relatively straightforward to me why the pain could exist. If you have a tendon stretching over a giant bump, it just isn't the normal anatomy, and I think that unatural situation would definitely hurt. The tendon has to stretch over this giant thing everytime you bend your knee -- a thing that shouldn't be there. So, eventually everything around the patella hurts, around the bump at the tibea hurts, and I thnk that the tendon itself must certainly get injured.

I am not sure what to do next -- I wish the doctors proposing the next operation understood what was going on with my knee better. It seems that there is not a lot of time spent before going into the operation room (In my case, I'm not even getting ONE MRI!!!!). I just want to understand the whole situation really well so that I know that the recovery time will be worth the operation.  I'm very afraid, for example, that after taking the huge bump out, the patella tendon will be loose and floppy (and it certainly will be cut in two, because that's how they're proposing to get the bump out). I don't see how this could realistically help my knee control.....