OSGOOD-SCHLATTER DISEASE

OSGOOD-SCHLATTER DISEASE

Overview and Facts

Osgood-Schlatter is a disease that occurs during the puberty stage of a child or adolescent when he or she experiences growth spurts. This disease typically occurs in boys ages 12 to 14, whereas girls from 10 to 13 years of age. The reason this disease occurs much earlier in girls is that they undergo puberty much earlier than boys do.

Osgood-Schlatter disease can cause a painful, bony bump on the shin bone just below the knee. Children who are into sports that involve running, jumping, and games that require swift changes, can this disease mostly occur too.

Any complications brought by about this disease are very uncommon. Even if they do, they might include some chronic pain or localized swelling, and the bony bump on the shinbone may remain. If this happens, it doesn’t usually interfere with the knee function. In some rare cases, Osgood-Schlatter disease can cause the growth plate to be pulled away from the shinbone.

Types and Symptoms

Due to various repeated activities that involve running, jumping, bending, the thigh muscles (quadriceps) can be pulled on the tendons that connect the kneecaps to the growth plate at the top part of the shinbone. If this is repeatedly happening, it can cause stress to the tendons, resulting in pain and swelling associated with Osgood-Schlatter disease.

Bony lumps located at the knee are caused by the new bone growth.

SYMPTOMS

Osgood-Schlatter disease can cause knee pain and swelling below the kneecap. The pain escalates as you run, kneel, and jump, but it eases when you rest. This condition usually occurs in one knee, but there are some cases where it can also affect both knees. This pain and discomfort can last from weeks to months and may recur. 

Diagnosis & Medications

DIAGNOSIS

Your doctor will ask you to have a physical examination, wherein they will check your knees for tenderness, swelling, pain, and redness. To take a closer look at your knee, you’ll perform an X-ray to look at the bones of the knee and leg and to examine the area where the kneecap tendon attaches to the shinbone.

TREATMENT

There isn’t any treatment specially done for Osgood-Schlatter disease, and its symptoms typically disappear after the child’s growth spurt. However, some medications can be used to alleviate pain such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or naproxen sodium.

There is also another way to alleviate pain through exercise. Your physical therapist could teach and show you how to stretch your thigh’s quadriceps to reduce the tension where the kneecap (patella) tendon attaches to the shinbone. Lastly, by strengthening their quadriceps and legs, it could stabilize the knee joint.

Although, in some rare cases where the pain persists even though the child’s growth spurt stopped, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the bony overgrowth.

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