Osgood-Schlatter Disease can impact your life dramatically. It can take shots on your body for so long until you can’t take it anymore. Osgood-Schlatter Disease is a common cause of knee pain in growing adolescents. It is an inflammation of the area just below the knee where the tendon from the kneecap (patellar tendon) attaches to the shinbone (tibia). It occurs when your bones, tendons, muscles are growing rapidly than what they should. It’s a common disease for athletes.
It all started when I was in fourth grade. I’m 19 now, and I’ve had this disease for ten years now. I told my parents that I had a bump on my knee. My dad looked at it and said, “It’s just a bump it’ll go away.” He even told me he had Osgood-Schlatter Disease as well, but
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I played five on five basketball with people who came to the park along with my twin brother and cousin. My knees continued to hurt even worse every time I played on the concrete courts. My dad eventually told me that it isn’t good for athletes with bad knees to play on concrete. I was determined to make it work. My brother, cousin and I decided to go to the community center to see when the courts were available to the citizens for open play. Every chance I was able, I went to the center to work on my game.
Once I entered high school, I focused on one sport my freshman and sophomore year to help with my disease. My mother would make sure that every night I iced my knees to help relieve the inflammation I developed from pounding up and down on the court. Leaving the game of basketball helped me adjust and perform better for football. I started at point guard and went on to become the key player in the game. My junior and senior year I focused on football. Playing one sport helped improve my knee pains because I did not have to do a lot of stops and go like basketball. I would ice them as needed to keep a control on this disease.
I have learned that you can not get rid of Osgood-Schlatter Disease nor do you have control over getting it. It is a life changing disease that you can treat to be able to function and perform at standard high level. As my parents always tell me, I do my best