During the week I had a client who presented with signs of a condition called Osgood Schlatters disease. This condition is common amongst pre-adolescent boys and girls who participate in strenuous running activities on hard surfaces such as timber floors and concrete etc. During the course of a year I would identify and treat many cases of OSD. I have provided more information in this blog and if you require more information, diagnosis or treatment for juvenile Osgoods, please feel free to contact Toms Bowen Therapy and Sports Injury Rehab for immediate treatment and relief. Osgood-Schlatter Disease Osgood-Schlatter disease is an inflammation of the bone, cartilage, and/or tendon at the top of the shinbone (tibia), where the tendon from the kneecap (patella) attaches. Most often only one knee is affected. OSD usually strikes active adolescents around the beginning of their growth spurts, the approximately 2-year period during which they grow most rapidly. Growth spurts can begin any time between the ages of 8 and 13 for girls, or 10 and 15 for boys. OSD has been more common in boys, but as more girls participate in sports, this is changing. Teens increase their risk for OSD if they play sports involving running, twisting, and jumping, such as basketball, football, volleyball, soccer, tennis, figure skating, and gymnastics. Doctors disagree about the mechanics that cause the injury but agree that overuse and physical stress are involved. Growth spurts make kids vulnerable because their bones, muscles, and tendons are growing quickly and not always at the same time. With exercise, differences in size and strength between the muscle groups place unusual stress on the growth plate at the top of the shinbone. (A growth plate is a layer of cartilage near the end of a bone where most of the bones growth occurs. It is weaker and more vulnerable to injury than the rest of the bone.) Most parents call the doctor after their child complains of intermittent pain over several months. The pain may be anywhere from mild and felt only during activity to severe and constant. Other 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 • tightness of the muscles surrounding the knee (the hamstring and quadriceps muscles)
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 06:04:04 +0000