Has your active teenager suddenly started to get knee pain both during and after sporting activities? Then they may be suffering with Osgoods Schlatter’s Disease. This injury is related to an injury of the anterior knee, and is usually seen in active children during their growth spurt. This injury is part of an umbrella of injuries known as ‘traction apophyses’, and was sometimes generally labelled as ‘growing pains’ by medical professionals. Osgoods Schlatter’s can be an extremely debilitating injury, and stop all sporting activities, and even affect day to day activities.

What is Osgoods Schlatter’s Disease?

The patellar tendon connects the bottom of the patella and the tibial tuberosity (top of shin bone), and is there to absorb and produce energy during running, jumping, and other sporting activities. This tissue provides stability to the knee when only one leg is in contact with the ground. During a child’s growth phase, the bones are quite soft as they grow, and have growth plates, which are vulnerable pieces of bone. In an active child, the patellar tendon may pull on this growth plate portion of the tibia, causing localised tenderness under the patella. In these cases, the tibial tuberosity can get irritated, causing pain to the front of the knee, especially while:

• Walking

• Going downstairs

• Running

• Jumping

• Changing direction on the field or court

‘’I should stretch the patellar tendon right?’’

Over the years, stretching and foam rolling the the quads at the front of your child’s thigh has been recommended. Although this may provide some temporary relief for your child, it should be low on the list of priorities when treating the pain form Osgoods Schlatter’s Disease. The front of the knee can get very sensitive after activity, so although stretching a muscle may feel good, it may actually aggravate pain at the tendon attachment site.

Rehab Options 

If your child is suffering from Osgoods Schlatter’s Disease, there’s a few things that you can start doing immediately to try and manage your symptoms.

Strengthening:

It’s a rather general term to ‘strengthen’ your legs, but growing children often have no resistance training in their routine, and this should be paramount. This involves simple loading at home with bodyweight so that they can get comfortable controlling their body in space.

Pain Management:

There is some evidence that regular icing both before and after activities for 5-10 minutes may be helpful for your child. It is usually recommended to not use medication as pain relief in most cases of Osgoods Schlatter’s. Some children also find taping techniques around the knee can help pain levels during their activities.

Managing knee loading/minutes of play:

An immediate change that will be beneficial would be to reduce your child’s weekly mileage. This includes reducing the minutes played in games, personalising their training sessions, alternating positions in team sports eg. moving from outfield to goals for portions of training/games, and spending and allocated amount of minutes on the bench during a game.

If you have any questions on whether physio is the best option for you, or you have any questions about MVMNT in general, feel free to contact via email.

- Jay Towolawi, Specialist Sports Physiotherapist and MVMNT Founder.