- Pain below the knee
-Unable to kneel on the floor
・ Severe pain runs when you hit the bottom of the knee
Do you have any of these symptoms?
Unexplained pain below the knee is called Osgood-Schlatter disease. It is especially likely to develop during the growth period of 10 to 15 years old, and there may be some parents who have been troubled by their child's pain under the knee.
In this article, I will explain about Osgood.
table of contents
About Osgood
Male good is developed when the part called ′′ tibial tuberosity ′′ that attaches to the ligament of the knee plate is peeled off.
It is said to be more common in growing children who play sports that involve a lot of jumping and kicking movements.
As a characteristic of pain, there is a characteristic that the pain increases when playing sports, and the pain decreases when you rest from sports. The pain gradually subsides as the child grows and disappears by the time bone growth is complete.
Cause of becoming male good
Osgood occurs when the muscles in front of the thigh (quadriceps) pull on the bone below the knee, where it attaches. It is thought to be more likely to occur in growing children. In growing children, bones grow rapidly, and muscle flexibility may not keep up with bone growth. Therefore, it is easier to get the stress that is pulled to the place where the muscles are attached. Also, the bone itself has a lot of cartilage parts, and it is also considered that the bone is not strong.
Also, as a condition that makes Osgood more likely to develop, research has shown that people who have a particularly large rectus femoris muscle, which is a muscle in front of the thigh, are more likely to develop it.
Sports that are prone to onset include volleyball with many jumping movements and soccer with kicking movements.
What is the difference between growing pains and male good?
Some people confuse so-called growing pains with male good as the pain in the growing legs. Growing pains and male good are clearly different.
Growing pains cannot be clearly defined, but Osgood is characterized by localized pain below the knee.
In addition, there is a difference in the time of day when the pain occurs, and growing pains are said to be more likely to occur in the evening or at night, but Osgood is characterized by pain that is more likely to occur when the knee is strained, such as during sports activities.
X-rays show no problems with growing pains, but Osgood's image is characterized by bone peeling under the knee.
In this way, there is a clear difference between growing pains and male good.
How to treat Osgood
Next, I will explain how to treat Osgood.
Conservative therapy
Osgood's treatment is basically conservative therapy.
What you do as a conservative treatment is stretching before icing and thighs.
Icing is an ice pack or ice pack that cools the painful bone below the knee. 20 minutes as a guideline, cool down until the sensation disappears. After observing the condition for about 2 hours, if you still have a fever, apply icing again for about 20 minutes.
For stretching, bend your knees deeply while sitting and arch your upper body. Keep the front of your thigh stretched. The strength of the stretch is fine as long as it causes a little pain. Stretch for 1 set for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and do 4 to 5 sets.
*There are also reports of cases in which the pain below the knee is so strong that it is not possible to stretch the front of the thigh. If the pain is strong, do not force yourself to stretch.
surgery
When male good progresses, the bone under the knee is peeling off. Surgery may be performed to remove the bone that has been torn off. There have also been reports of patients returning to sports with improvement in pain 11 weeks after surgery.
Time to return to sport
As a general rule, you can return to play once the pain has subsided and becomes tolerable.
Please note that the pain may return for 3 to 6 months after becoming Osgood. There is also a band that wraps under the knee, so consider wearing a band as a preventive measure to prevent pain.
It is said that muscle strength in the front of the thigh decreases when it becomes male-good, but there are cases where even after surgery, when muscle strength has recovered to 79% compared to the healthy side, they have returned to competition.
There have been cases of athletes returning to competition even though their pain, muscle strength, and knee flexion weren't all perfect.
If the pain doesn't get that bad, you may want to consider returning to competition gradually. Please consider returning to competition while consulting with a specialist at a medical institution.
summary
This time, I explained about Osgood. Osgood is often confused when a child suddenly says, "My knee hurts," or neglected because it's growing pains anyway. It is difficult to know the details without an MRI, but if left untreated, the symptoms will worsen, and in the worst case, surgery may be required.
Pain can force you out of the sport for an extended period of time. If your child is hurting below the knee, try stretching the front of the thigh together or applying ice. Do what you can as a parent so that your child does not have to leave their favorite sport and consult a medical institution as soon as possible.
References
・ Haruki Kogo et al.: Characteristics of physical factors involved in knee progression in soccer players after Osgood-Schlatter disease, Health Promotion Physical Therapy Research, Vol.8 (2018) No.2
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/hppt/8/2/8_51/_pdf/-char/ja
・Hirano A. Pathogenesis and causes of Osgood-Schlatter disease: MRI and X-ray analysis, (2002)
https://tsukuba.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/13514/files/A2924.pdf
・Maki Mochizuki et al.: Time course of pain before and after surgery in Osgood-Schlatter disease. The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51.4-5 (2014): p283-287
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjrmc/51/4-5/51_283/_pdf
Supervision: Dr. Yasushi Tsuda