Let me open with a sentence that makes a lot of people relax: knee osteoarthritis is not a one-way street where the cartilage grinds away and that is the end of it. It is closer to an imbalance — the body’s rate of repairing the joint has fallen behind the rate of wear. That gap can be narrowed, and the things that narrow it happen to be the cheapest things on the list. ...
Bottom line up front: If your child has a painful bump just below the kneecap, it’s not growing pains. It has a name: Osgood-Schlatter, also known as tibial tubercle apophysitis. And contrary to what many people have heard—it doesn’t “completely go away when you grow up." I’m writing this for parents who have 10- to 15-year-olds currently running and jumping in sports. How to tell if it’s growing pains Growing pains usually happen in both legs, ache in the evening or middle of the night, and have no clear point of tenderness. By the next morning, it’s like nothing happened. ...