Osgood Schlatters Disease
 | It is usually quite straight forward to tell if you child has Osgood
Schlatters. Firstly the child be aged between nine and sixteen and going
through a growth spurt. The child will be active, maybe playing sports
on a regular basis. The final indicator is a painful lump at the top of
the shin bone at the front of the knee. It is usually tender to touch.
Osgood Schlatters Disease Any parent hates to see their children suffer. Osgood-Schlatter Disease while usually only discomforting it can be debilitating in the worst case scenario. However, there are a few ways to both minimize its chances of onset and to limit its impact on young athletes. One of the best ways to help prevent the onset of Osgood-Schlatter Disease is to limit the amount of exposure the young athlete has to high-impact activities which shock and jar the shins and knees. This can be easier said that done if your child enjoys sports. The types of movement that are high impact include dancing, gymnastics, running, and any other physical activity that involves a great deal of movement. Sadly and not advisable the single best way to avoid Osgood Schlatter Disease is the avoidance of almost any intense physical activity. As physical activity is necessary to maintain a healthy body, this is never a viable option. Osgood-Schlatter Disease can still manifest itself in children even when high impact activity and sports are avoided or limited. As many as one in five young athletes will develop Osgood Schlatter Disease during the course of their maturation, and about five percent of even non sporty adolescents will still develop the disorder. If your child is suffering, the most important aspect of dealing with the condition is by minimizing the opportunity for the disorder to cause pain. This is best accomplished through the avoidance of the types of high impact activities such as running and jumping. The condition thankfully is usually, for most sufferers, temporary and usually clear up on their own after a couple of years. The present treatment advice is to treat the symptoms of Osgood Schlatters Disease. Thats Rest, Ice, Compression to reduce the pain and swelling, anti-inflammatory medication and modification of sporting activities. It is likely that the condition will return when the child resumes sports. When Osgood Schlatters returns the lump can increase in size and the soft cartilage starts to change into bone making the knee lump permanent. This will have future implications as over half of patients with these lumps will have pain whenever they kneel down for the rest of their lives. A number of chronic sufferers may need to have bony splinters surgically removed from the front of their knees. Eventually painful symptoms suffered with activity will go as they finish their growth spurt. So if you do nothing it will finally go in two to three years. Osgood-Schlatter Disease can also be treated with over the counter medicines such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Because the pain of the disease is caused primarily due to the swelling it inflicts, any medication that can help to reduce swelling will also generally help to reduce pain, however it will not cure the condition. The only clinicially proven cure available is The Strickland Protocol. Clinical Trials data can be obtained via Wikipedia. Osgood Schlatters Disease |
