I had a visit to ortho last weekend because my knees still hurt from the five point landing I had when I tripped back two months ago. They took x-rays to make sure that I hadn't chipped anything (I hadn't) and while looking at the pictures, the PA commented that they showed that I'd had Osgood-Schlatter disease.
Since no one has ever mentioned that to me, I asked what it was. Apparently if your bones don't grow in sync with the soft tissue, the pull on the bones causes some very minor remodelling which shows on the films even much later in life.
As soon as he started describing it, I said, yes, indeed, I had had something like that. Starting when I was about 11 or 12, I had awful knee pain, especially after activity. Not that I was very good at it anyway, but I'd had to give up ballet lessons, because after one one hour class I wouldn't be able to straighten my leg for about three weeks. I saw the ortho at St. Joe's (who also looked at the UofM football team's knees) and he poked and prodded, maybe there was an X-ray, and told us not to worry, it was just growing pains, and he described it exactly that way, as the bones growing first and the connective tissue having to catch up. From then on, I always knew when I was having a growth spurt, even in my 20s, and during my last 1/4 inch just before my 31st birthday.
My knees have enough problems now, thankfully that's no longer one I have to worry about.
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