My 13 year old daughter started showing signs of inflammation in her R knee a yr ago.. now that she is in sports full time, it's getting worse... Last night she had soccer practice and was squalling!!! in pain.. I've taken her to an orthopedic dr twice.. he said the only thing the xrays showed was an evelvated growth plate.. and an extreme amount of swelling... Should I take her back to the orthopedic, or my rheumy?!??! I don't know what to do... It scares me because I started showing my symptoms at 12 as well... Any advice would be appreciated!!!!
I went to podiatrist and orthopedics for extreme pain in my feet - xrays showed nothing. An MRI showed tendinitis that the doc brushed off. After 18 months finally sent to rheumy who diagnosed my PsA. I would take her to the rheumy now.
I'm going to have every soccer mom in the country mad at me....
This isn't the best sport for 13 & 14 year old girls. (Only in the US do we fail to recognize equal but diferent) There have been rates as high as 50% (depending on the program) of Osgood-Schlatter disease in soccer playing girls - especially club soccer. (Its not as bad as it sounds.) "Raised growth plate" is pretty good description. Yeah Yeah I know way too much juvenile arthrits is blown off as growing pains. But even if I were suspicious about it, I would not haul the poor kid off to a Rheumy. It'll scare her half to death, and they prolly wouldn't do anything anyway with ony one knee (thats not NORMALLY where this stuff starts)
A good sports ortho WITH a highly qualified trainer is where I would go if it were my daughter. No girl be playing without patellar support straps (at the least) A little bit of mecahnical help will go a long way.
If she does have "it" a bit longer of normal won't hurt. Half her friends will have pretty nasty knee pain at one point or another. If it is "it" something else will show up confirming your suspicions.
I was just listening to a health radio program the other day, and Osgood-Schlatter was the first thing that popped into my head too, based on age, and growth plate issue. I agree with Lamb, there are plenty of sports orthopedist offices that have trainers and physical therapists as part of the staff. The sports doctors have a MUCH better picture of how sports impact these issues.
Here is a link to the Mayo clinic - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osgood-schlatter-disease/DS00392
Why not see both specialists if your insurance covers it?
I have NEVER heard of Osgood-Schlatters!!! I am reading it now!! thank you for the link~ I took her back to the Orthopedic today (2nd time there this yr).. The growth plate is not elevated as it was before, but the inflammation is still there. He's putting her on Mobic (melixocam) for 3 months and wants her to rest it.. if its no better he wants to do an MRI.. but suspects it won't show anything..
To my horror, he said she has "patella-femoral" pain.. which could be "patella-femoral stress syndrome"..... That is what ALL OF THE 15 different Orthopedic Drs told me all of 15 yrs because they had no idea what was wrong with me.. until I went to a Rheumy. Hope it's not a coincidence! I only had left knee pain for 15 yrs or more.. when I turned about 32 is when other joints started to swell.. I appreciate ALL the comments!! and I'll check that disorder out NOW!!!! :)
My PsA started as swelling in my knee. The ortho didn't recognize it as PsA for a long time. He drew some fluid from the knee and had it analyzed for immune response stuff, cytokines maybe. Anyway he referred me to a rheum and had my lab report sent there. The rheum used the lab report to diagnose me with PsA.
Earlier another rheum and given me a prednisone PaK to see if it would do anything. It didn't so he concluded it wasn't inflammatory. He was incorrect.
The absolute worst thing about PsA, for me, is that anytime my kiddos complain of musculoskeletal pain, I get a little twinge! So far, we have been able to get all of them in custom orthotics and their legs are so much better. I hope that you are able to get it figured out soon. I hope that it is something as easy to treat as weirdly formed feet!
I'm with you on that. What's worse is that my almost 11 year old does have some psoriasis. In her case though, her feet ARE flat, and right now we are dealing with it with drugstore inserts. We'll look into the custom orthotics if these stop doing the trick. But the truth is, she's a gymnast, and she puts a lot of strain on her body. I see many of the girls at her gym with knee, ankle, and wrist braces on.
GrumpyCat said:
The absolute worst thing about PsA, for me, is that anytime my kiddos complain of musculoskeletal pain, I get a little twinge! So far, we have been able to get all of them in custom orthotics and their legs are so much better. I hope that you are able to get it figured out soon. I hope that it is something as easy to treat as weirdly formed feet!
Stoney,
I am just lucky to have a podiatrist colleague. He is really great. He looked at iPhone pics of my boys’ ankles and feet to determine if they needed to come in. Plus, if my insurance doesn’t cover the orthotics, he just charges me cost. You could get her flat feet looked at by a podiatrist who also specializes in podiatric surgery. Some flat feet are considered flexible and are correctable with orthotics; others are not flexible and require surgery to correct them. If she is in the later group, correcting the foot could save her lots of leg pain in the future.
Just a thought!
Stoney said:
I’m with you on that. What’s worse is that my almost 11 year old does have some psoriasis. In her case though, her feet ARE flat, and right now we are dealing with it with drugstore inserts. We’ll look into the custom orthotics if these stop doing the trick. But the truth is, she’s a gymnast, and she puts a lot of strain on her body. I see many of the girls at her gym with knee, ankle, and wrist braces on.
GrumpyCat said:The absolute worst thing about PsA, for me, is that anytime my kiddos complain of musculoskeletal pain, I get a little twinge! So far, we have been able to get all of them in custom orthotics and their legs are so much better. I hope that you are able to get it figured out soon. I hope that it is something as easy to treat as weirdly formed feet!
Hmm. My insurance does cover orthotics, which I've recently realized are REALLY expensive. It may well be worth it for me to have her checked out by a podiatrist. Thanks for the thought.
GrumpyCat said:
Stoney,
I am just lucky to have a podiatrist colleague. He is really great. He looked at iPhone pics of my boys' ankles and feet to determine if they needed to come in. Plus, if my insurance doesn't cover the orthotics, he just charges me cost. You could get her flat feet looked at by a podiatrist who also specializes in podiatric surgery. Some flat feet are considered flexible and are correctable with orthotics; others are not flexible and require surgery to correct them. If she is in the later group, correcting the foot could save her lots of leg pain in the future.
Just a thought!