Adam Rufa - 6/12/2006

Question
I'm 24, was pretty active in junior high and high school sports. Lots of jumping, running, stopping activites. I've had this OCD tibial tuberosity every since then. It's not huge, but it's noticeable upon flexion. No pain during playing, but just some tenderness to the touch after sports. And it's very therapeutic to massage the patella tendon. Do you have any advice on dealing with OCD? Strengthening exercise? Or should I just limit my activity? Icing? I try wearing this "knee band" that puts pressure on the tendon during basketball, but it doesn't help that much. Appreciate any help.

Answer
In most cases once a person stops growing they do not get much pain from Osgood Schlatter's. If someone has stopped growing and still has pain there could be another cause of the symptoms. Such as: patellar tendonitis or patellar femoral pain. There are many different treatments for knee pain however they do not always work. I usually tell my patients to try and avoid activities that give them more than a few hours of increased pain. With some conditions we just have to live with pain and activity level becomes a personal choice.
Think about getting looked at by a manual based PT and see if there it anything they can help you with. You can find good PTs in your area at :http://www.aaompt.org/

Look under find a fellow.  

Adam