UKC

So, long story short, I had problems with my right knee as a child which resulted in a lot of time spent on crutches with chronic pain and swelling from ages 6-8ish.

At the ripe old age of 29, I developed pain and noticed a small, bony lump around my tibial tuberosity (basically below the knee, where the patellar ligament joins the bone). This seemed to coincide with me starting to climb a little harder, pushing my grade and evidently my body! It feels like a bruise, is noticeable when walking down stairs, sitting, standing up and all of those associated motions when climbing. Not unbearable, but annoying.

My GP diagnosed it as Osgood-Schlatter’s disease, which is common in teenagers but not so much in adults, however, it isn’t unheard of for adults who had it in childhood to have relapses later in life. Chances are, I had it as a child but did not notice it due to the pain I was already experiencing as part of my other condition.

I am currently having another episode of this, one year on, only it seems worse pain-wise. I recently started running more and on rougher terrain, and have been pushing myself bouldering.

Has anyone else had any experience of this in adulthood? It seems that all you can do is rest and ice, and that working through the pain is not detrimental, so just keep on running/climbing. Any suggestions for braces or taping?! Anyone had any success treating this any other way?

Cheers!

Good luck to you! Hope you get great answers from folks here

I have had it in my right knee since teenage years and now have a golf ball sized lump below the kneecap.  It seems to be one of those rare conditions/injuries that can be more or less ignored.  Mine aches a bit and it's painful to kneel on or knock it but otherwise doesn't get worse from climbing.  It might be a good idea to work on strengthening and stabilising the knee rather than bracing it (which over time you can get reliant on).  

Golf ball sized! Woah!

It sounds that way, yes. I’m interested to know if the flare-ups are related to muscle growth (which would make sense in terms of timing, pushing my grade, running more etc.) as I read that in adolescents it is usually brought on by growth of the quadricep being faster than the patellar tendon can keep up with, which causes it to pull on the growth plate. I’m fairly ill-informed though (most of my information comes from webMD and the like!).

Have you found any patterns in when you experience pain the most? 

Good point about bracing, totally agree that it would be best to stabilise and strengthen.

I had the same understanding as you about the cause in adolescence, so yes maybe an adult flare up can also be connected to increase in muscle.  It's an interesting thought.  Since it doesn't limit me much I haven't really given it much attention as an adult though.

The pain is mostly limited to when I've bashed it or knelt on it.  I don't run much.

Get a referral to a sports physio perhaps, its a common condition with sporty teens so I'd guess there's a protocol for dealing with it.

I have the same story as richgac. Painful lump developed just below right knee during teens. The doctors all said it's this and "it will vanish as you grow older".

It didn't.

It's nowhere near as tender as it was at first. Basically painless now. It's not a problem day to day unless I kneel right on it. Golf ball sized is about right. Doesn't affect my climbing at all, and I haven't had any flare-ups or pain in response to any activity.

I don't want to depress you but I'm mid-fifties and still have trouble with this. As said above, RICE helps when it flares up. Longer term solution - cycling seemed to build up my legs and that reduced incidence(& stopped me dislocating knee caps, which had been a problem before then). I tried knee support etc  - didn't make any difference for me.

Oh dear! Sorry got hear you’re still having trouble! It definitely sounds like one of those things that tends to stick around.

Interesting that most others don’t seem to get much trouble from it other than kneeling etc. I am certainly experiencing pain when exerting force on through the knee, even as gently as just sitting down.

Im not much of a cyclist, perhaps I can find some exercises in a similar vein to help strengthen.

I think you’re probably right there!

Thanks for your input, interesting to hear from others with same - I thought it was a bit ‘out there’!

Did you find that the lump continued to get bigger over time or stopped growing after adolescence?

Interesting that you don’t tend to experience pain with activity. I’m beginning to wonder if this requires a bit more investigation!

Did you find that the lump continued to get bigger over time or stopped growing after adolescence?

Stopped growing. It appeared quite suddenly (I mean relatively. Not like overnight) and never got any bigger. Was pretty common amongst my circle of friends at the time, but most others saw it shrink back like it's supposed to.