02-14-2007, 08:12 AM
I've long been critical of many aspects of conventional wisdom. That shouldn't come as any great surprise if you've read my previous ramblings. I believe it is now time to go even further and blow a major myth out of the water: Knee/Growing pains are not a structural (i.e. joint / growth plate) issue! As such, they actually can be treated, despite what most professionals would have you believe. It's too early for me to say so definitively, but my experience thus far with treating athletes has led me to the conclusion that such issues actually stem from tendon tension in the lower leg. Relieving that tension makes for a fairly dramatic recovery. Stretching helps, but the major aid is careful massage work, working cross-wise (as opposed to length-wise) along the affected tendon. My guess is that the pain is actually due to tendons falling behind the growth curve and being under a great deal of tension until they catch up. Regular massage work greatly relieves that tension and eliminates most of the discomfort.