My Bad Knee- Osgood Schlatter

Bad knees can be caused by both environmental factors and genetics, but in my case, the genetics of having bad knees probably runs throughout my family. To be specific, my mom has bad knees, my two brothers have bad knees, and now... me.

The pain in my knees started about a month or two ago, when I started Intermediate Foundation in ballet for a few weeks. For my normal grade 5 classes in ballet, I SHOULD only do three hours a week if I am doing the exam (You can choose to take the exam or not. If not, then you'll only have to do two hours.), which I am. This is my schedule for dance:

Wednesdays- 2 hours:  5:30-6:30 , followed by 6:45-7:45

Fridays- 1 hour:  6:30-7:30

Saturdays- 1 hour at North Point (North Point is very far from where I live):  10:00-11:00

I tried to bite the bullet and just assume that the pain was just that I was a bit too heavy with too much jumping. However, as time passes the pain spread towards around the middle of my leg, and then became a constant daily pain. It doesn't hurt when I walk normally, only when I do activities that put a lot of pressure on my knees such as running, jumping, climbing stairs, etc. 

This was when I went to the doctor, and he said that Osgood Schlatter is very common amongst children my age (aged 9-15) which are starting puberty. Children with Osgood schlatter are usually involved in sports that require a lot of running, jumping (that's me!), kneeling, squatting, etc. The doctor also said that it is fine and that my patellar tendon is probably just suffering from an overuse that has caused in injury. He reassured me that this would stop after I have finished growing and puberty.

When I asked how I could stop it from hurting so I could participate in my activities, he told me to get a patellar tendon strap. I didn't really get the theory of the strap but he said that it would prevent the pain. I have started using it for the first time at dance class today. It actually does help relief the pain! I really like the strap. However, it is quite hard to determine where to apple the strap because it isn't supposed to be too loose but shouldn't be too tight to cut of circulation. My looks something like this:

                                           

I have some friends in the class at North Point have to wear this as well, so I guess it's not something very rare and that maybe it's not because I'm too heavy, afterall (Well, ok maybe I am)! Do any of you have something like this?