Sports Injury Update – (Produced for the Sturt Sabres bi-monthly newsletter “The Blues News”. The Physio Studio is a proud sponsor of the Sturt Basketball Club.)

My knee hurts, is it just growing pains?

Knee pain is common in young basketballers and can often come on without any obvious injury, fall or sprain. Sometimes put down to “growing pains” by parents or players, they may battle on playing sore unnecessarily.

While a period of growth or “growth spurt” may make young players more susceptible to certain types of knee pain, there are a number of specific conditions that are commonly seen in children and teenagers. Along with recent growth, sudden increases in training/playing amounts are often also associated with the onset of pain.

Just three of the common conditions that can result in pain at the front of the knee are:

Patello-femoral joint (PFJ) pain: pain arising from the joint between the patella (knee cap) and the end of the femur (thigh bone).

Patellar tendinopathy: soreness in the tendon that joins the bottom of your patella to the top of the tibia (shin bone). You may have previously heard the term tendinitis.

Osgood-Schlatters Disease: pain at the site where the patellar tendon attaches to the tibia.

A thorough assessment can identify the specific area and nature of pain and other contributing factors which will then guide best management.

Many of these problems can be significantly improved with modification of training and playing volume and management to help with recovery, muscle tightness, muscle weakness or alignment issues. Knee taping or bracing may also be helpful in certain conditions but should only be used once a correct diagnosis has been made.

If knee pain is holding you back, get to The Physio Studio for an assessment, we may be able to help with those “growing pains”!

Call the clinic today on 8357 0418 to book your appointment