Write an article based on this "Work with a physical therapist. Limit your exercise activity. Do body strength exercises. Follow treatment recommendations for stretching. Work on muscle balance. Limit sports specialization."
Working with a PT specialist is a great way to ease back into exercising and sports. Your primary care doctor will likely give you a PT referral along with your OSD diagnosis. While in PT, the practitioner will show you how to properly stretch before and after exercise to ensure the health of your knee. Your physical therapist might also manually stimulate your knee by moving it around or side-to-side. Rest and relaxation is the one of the best treatment avenues for OSD. Your doctor may request that you avoid any jumping, sprinting, or weight training that puts stress on the knee area. Or, your doctor may ask that you avoid all physical activity for a period of months. Following their orders closely will get you back in action sooner. Even when you feel 100% you may need to modify some of your sports activities. For example, if you are a runner, you may need to start exercising on a soft surface, such as turf. To keep your muscle definition while still resting, rely on exercises that require you to manipulate or lift your own body weight. Dips, rows, chin-ups, and push-ups are all safe exercises to complete while recovering from OSD. Your physical therapist will give you a series of exercises or stretches to do for your OSD. Keep this list or printout on hand and follow their instructions. Completing stretches for your hamstring and quadriceps can be particularly useful when healing from OSD. These reduce tension in the leg and knee area while improving blood flow. To complete a lying hamstring stretch, get down with your back on the floor. Place part of a rope under the ball of one foot. Slowly raise your leg by pulling on your end of the rope. Keep your opposite leg against the ground. Hold your raised leg up in the air for 30 seconds before slowly letting it down. Continuing with a regular pattern of before and after exercise stretching can also help to prevent a reoccurrence of OSD. Watch to make sure that you are not favoring just one side of your body while minimizing the other. Emphasize balancing out muscular function by switching sides while batting, rotating on all exercises, and not overcompensating for your OSD knee. If you put too much stress on your non-OSD side, then it can develop its own problems. More and more health professionals are suggesting that young athletes, in particular, practice a wide variety of sports instead of devoting all of their time and talents to just one. This will help prevent the overuse of particular muscle groups and bones, such as the knee. Taking a break in between seasons is also helpful.