Osgood Schlatters, sounds unusual doesn’t it?
In fact this is an overuse injury affecting commonly teenagers where only one knee suffers tremendous pain.
This is usually due to changes at the bone/tendon junction at the top of the shin bone (tibia) where the tendon from the knee cap attaches to the bone, there is usually visible swelling/thickening around this area. This injury is more common in boys but as more girls participate in sports, this is changing.
Osgood Shlatters strike active adolescents around the beginning of a growth spurt. During this time their bones, muscles, and tendons are growing quickly and not always at the same rate, the pain usually resolves within 12 to 24 months once the teenager’s rate of growth slows down. Teens increase their risk if they play sports involving running, twisting, and jumping, such as basketball, football, volleyball, soccer, tennis, figure skating, and gymnastics. Symptoms may include; pain that worsens with exercise, relief from pain with rest,swelling or tenderness under the knee and over the shinbone, limping after exercise and tightness of the muscles surrounding the knee.
Osgood Schlatters usually goes away when the growth spurt slows down, up to then, rest is most often recommended. The cruel irimagesony of this is that it is the most active teens who are the most likely to develop the condition, complete rest from sport can therefore be upsetting and have other consequences including; loss of physical health, frustration, loss of social interaction and confidence.
Affected teenagers need to find a happy balance between rest and sport so they can continue activity and manage their symptoms.
Treatment involves addressing imbalances in muscle function with a thorough analysis of the sufferers biomechanics. By improving movement patterning and muscle function symptoms can often improve and become more manageable, this means sport becomes less painful.
No-one want’s a grumpy teen so keeping them moving is our ultimate goal.
