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2005-05-05 9:57 PM

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Subject: growing pains
I am so frustrated! My daughter, who will be 13 in August, is growing really fast. She has grown 3 inches in four months. This has put quite a strain on her body, knees in particular. She has seen a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and is going to physical therapy, but she is just miserable. She is not sleeping well, which makes both of us grumpy. And she is in pain much of the time, which does very little for her mood!. It is really hard to get her to train, even though she knows she is worse when she doesn't. We have made modifications to her training, to lessen the impact on her knees, but it is still hard to get her motivated to do anything. Also, we are getting lots of conflicting information. The Doc says one thing, the PT says another. Running coach says one thing, swim coach says another. No one seems to agree on anything except that her bones are growing too fast for the muscles and ligaments to keep up. I am feeling woefully inadequate right now, probably due in part to sleep deprivation!


2005-05-05 10:14 PM
in reply to: #153405

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Subject: RE: growing pains
I feel your daughter pains, Ive grown 3 inches in the past 2-3 months. Im living in a world of alieve and mass ammounts of food.

Only she knows what her body is up to, so I would ask her what she thinks before racing, its not worth an injury.
2005-05-06 6:54 PM
in reply to: #153405

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Subject: RE: growing pains
They are right about her bones growing too fast for her muscles to keep up. Only thing you can do is continue to stretdh as much as she can. As far as training I'd let her limit her own activity except the stretching...that will help. Hang in there growth spruts don't last forever -
2005-05-07 8:56 AM
in reply to: #153885

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Subject: RE: growing pains
Thank you for your replies. She felt much better yesterday, no pain all day, first time in months. I am finding it difficult to deal with all the conflicting advice from everyone involved in her treatment. Current dilemma: the pt says she absolutely needs shoes with orthotics to control her mild pronation, but her Dr. didn't think this was necessary. Her running coach is not at all thrilled with the idea, although she said she could see her using them while she is having problems. So I guess we will be shoe shopping today.
2005-05-07 9:38 AM
in reply to: #153405

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Subject: RE: growing pains
One thing to think about is, Is her doctor an athlete?
My doctor growing up said he would never clear me to play any sports having to do with my arms, ie basketball volleyball etc. because my joints were too loose. Of course I ignored him and when I got to college I started rowing. The orthopedic guys there cleared me. I only had problems once and that was because I was lifting too much and my shoulder came out of socket. Mind you I can make it come out. But on this occassion it came out on its own. After taking 3 weeks off and doing PT I learned that if I am going to continue stuff like this there were things that I had to focus on beyond what other people did. The PT helped me get around something my doctor growing up never would have let me even try.
And now I am swimming, I'm sure I wouldn't have been allowed to do that either. But I'm getting pretty good at it.

Its not that the doctor doesn't have your childs best interest at heart, or maybe even that he is right, but a lot of times if a doctor isn't an athlete or dealing with athletes consistently they make judgements based on the abilities of the non-athlete. And there aren't alot of suggestions with how to get around things.

Has she tried aqua-jogging?

Hope everything works out and the pain stays at bay.
2005-05-08 9:02 AM
in reply to: #153405

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Subject: RE: growing pains
My doc had the same dilema with the orthotics, he said I needed them the pt said I didnt. After 3 rounds of pt, we got them....

They work darn good, I have less pain in my hip, but its not a silver bullet. You still need adequate foot stength for running, which can mean the difference between pain and no pain.


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