12 Year Old Hockey Player w Persistent Quad Soreness

[Hockeymama]

I need help/advice. This is a new occurence. My 12 year old hockey player is extremely fit. All of a sudden just playing two games a day or a weekend tournament causes an incredible amount of quad soreness ( both legs) that takes a week to recover from. This is unheard of for him. It is more than just the typical soreness you have after a game or hard work out.

Saw a sports doctor ( a rather prominent one), who was rather rude and dismissive and claimed it was due to growth of the quad not keeping pace with the growth of the femur. I have asked around and no one seems to have experienced this degree of discomfort even with rapid growth. Its been a month now and the situation has not improved. My son has grown 3 inches so far this calendar year and I think about 1/2 to 3/4 of inch was in September alone. The doctor suggested stretching exercises which he has been doing. Has anyone experienced this? Has anyone also been told its growth related? How did you treat/relieve/remedy.

Based on this site I would say it is the rectoris femoris muscle set ...the muscles down the front of the thigh.

There are no knots or swelling. Just incredible soreness after sports activities which two months ago were common place and have been for him for over 4 years.

He plays a quite a high level and we have dropped his ice time down considerably from about 10 -15 hours a week to about 4-6, but this week he has not been able to get on the ice so far after a weekend tournament left his legs so sore.

Is this a growth thing??????????? No one in the hockey world has experienced anything like it as far as i can tell from asking and googling.

[Heidi]

Hi

I don't know if pain like this can occur from rapid growth. I have heard of growing pains but never this severe.
Are you sure there is not a muscle tear? If so, generally there would be an area of tenderness that is worse than anywhere else on the muscle.
Whether it is or not, I would recommend getting some sports massage. This will help to relax the muscle and those surrounding it.
Is there a time of day when the pain is worse?

[Hockeymama]

...no I keep asking him about that. There is no particular spot from which it radiates. There are no lumpy spots or swelling. The whole area is sore.

I saw our own pediatrician yesterday, who also finds the growth explanation weird as growth normallly affects the tendons.

I have to say though as a Mom, all of a sudden that femur looks enormous. In a relatively short space of time it has got bigger. I can tell even from the fact that athletic shorts that were at his knees are way up his legs now.

Everything feels tight. I can feel his IT band. I don't recall ever being able to feel that before so easily ( though that is not hurting). Everything feels so tight. That has got to hurt!

Our pediatrician did a full work out for him just to eliminate neuro related things.

He has give us an rx for physical therapy to see if this can improve in a 3 -4 week time frame. He is treating it like a muscle pull ( I think there is no evidence of a significant tear...and it is also bilateral). I guess it would be grade 1 if there is no specific tear.

Also what do you think of glutamine suplements for a 12 year old? I read they aid repair and recovery and there is no apparent side effects or suggested limitation for children or teens. One site I found said not recommended for under 10. Though most sites say nothing with reagrd to age.

Although this is a recent event and we have never had any issues before I wonder what impact poor diet and pre pubertal changes could have on this. What if there is some sort of catabolic impact. Getting my son to eat is often a challenge. He will take some carbohydrates and some protein, but getting him to eat anything but miniscule quantities of meat or pasta is hard. He likes McDonalds and wants to eat Cinamon Melts and Sausage McGriddles for breakfast when we are on the road for games. (He eats their chicken wraps for lunch, but does not eat their burgers or fries)

Sometimes I think he does not even consume enough calories for the amount of activity he woudl normally have. Is it time to use recovery drinks that have the perfectly balanced ratios of carbs and proteins?

Maybe with some of the beginnings of pubertal changes and the increase in size of his muslces he is just not feeding them right? What do you think? Maybe the insufficient food for his muscles has caused some catabolic impact.

Also in response to your question Heidi, this is not painful at rest just when worked. Also he refuses to use the word pain or even soreness. He says it is a "burning" feeling and his issue is that it occurs when he gets on the ice even if he has rested and not skated. Its feels like he just skated "suicides"...blue line back, red line back....!

[nikki]

Hi
Did you ever figure out what was causing your son's condition. What you describe is exactly what my 12 year old daughter is going through. She plays competitve hockey and is on the ice a fair amount. We have been taking her to an Osteopath and she does a lot of daily stretching, but her condition is similar to your son in that it doesn't take much before she starts to feel a burning sensation in her quads. She was in a tournament this weekend and started feeling it half way through the second game.

We have seen her family doctor but unfortunately they have been not much help. We are at a bit of a loss at this point.

[mom2luclog]

Wondering if either of you ever figured out what caused the pain in your kids. My 12 year old son is now having the same thing, however not with hockey but while playing soccer this year. He grew six inches over the past six months so I'm wondering if it's something to do with that, but I'm not sure. It's just hard to see him in so much pain. I'm not sure he's going to make it through the season.

[nikki]

We went to see a sports doctor and she is a little perplexed at the moment but she does suspect it may be a bruised or swollen nerve as a result of my daughter falling on her tailbone at the beginning of last season. X-rays show nothing abnormal and the next step is to do a nerve test with a neurologist but the appointment is not until December.

The doctor put her on a skating treadmill and was able to reproduce her condition within 20 seconds.

We continue to see the Osteopath for deep muscle message and my daughter does a lot of stretching exercises and some yoga. All this seems to help, but when she is on the ice a lot, the condition gets aggravated and comes on fairly quickly. She has learned to play through the pain to some degree.

Unfortunately we do not have any useful news at this time.

[nikki]

My daughter just had her MRI done and the good news is that she does not have any significant spinal issues, but she does have minimal disc bulging at L5-S1. Although it is very minor narrowing of the spinal canal, the neurologist suspects that when she is crouched in her skating position, it causes enough pressure on the spine to compress the nerves which results in the burning sensation that she is experiencing. Unfortunately, the bad news is that there is no magic solution that will correct this problem. She will be starting physio to work on strengthening her core muscles in hopes that it will be able to relieve some of the stress on the spine so that the nerves will not be as compressed when she skates.

The doctors do not believe that she is risking further injury by continuing to play hockey, but will obviously have to play through the discomfort.