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Knee: Osgood Schlatter's Disease

A child or adolescent in their early teen years, ages ranging between 9-14 years, complains of pain at the front of the knee joint below the kneecap. This condition of the tibial tuberosity,  is more common in boys but has been found to occur with girls as well. Knee Osgood Schlatter’s disease is caused by a ligament pulling repeatedly on a rapidly growing bone. It normally only affects one knee but can affect both.

No injury is described with this complaint, but rather symptoms being a dull ache which increases with activities that are impact in nature. The disease is considered temporary but can be noticed for a year or more. The pain can come and go along the tibial tuberosity, and it often hurts to kneel down or apply any direct pressure to the area.

Treatment Options for Knee - Osgood Schlatter's Disease at our Raleigh, Cary and Garner Facilities

This condition responds best to activity modification (less impact), rest and avoidance of aggravating activities. This usually means discontinuing or reducing the amount of sport participation. The recommended time frame to consider activity modification may be up to six weeks or longer, depending on the severity of the symptoms. If rest or activity modification is avoided, the healing time may be prolonged.

Mild pain medicine or low doses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to relieve pain and inflammation. Depending on the severity of the symptoms a splint, knee sleeve or knee strap may be helpful. Judicious use of ice during and after activities is highly recommended in conjunction with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The child is encouraged to work a great deal on thigh flexibility, especially the Hamstring muscle group on the back of the leg.

Once the pain has significantly diminished the child can gradually resume sporting activities and work on the leg to regain full strength and flexibility.

The pain can be intermittent so the child should be aware that treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and rehabilitation may need to be ongoing.

Long term complications are rare. The most common being an unsightly growth of bone at the top of the shin (tibia) just below the knee. If it causes long term problems, the excessive bone growth can be removed surgically from the tibial tuberosity.

For more information on how the ligament injuries specialists at Cary Orthopaedics can help you, contact us today at 919-467-4992 for an appointment!

Cary Orthopaedics serves patients from Raleigh, Garner, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Clayton, Chapel Hill, and Pittsboro, NC.