Article
Osgood-Schlatter disease in the youth football academy of a professional football club: a retrospective data analysis
Search Medline for
Authors
-
Frédéric Abel
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
-
Patrick Belikan
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
-
Lars-Christopher Färber
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
-
Philipp Appelmann
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
-
Pol Maria Rommens
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
-
Philipp Drees
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
-
Stefan Mattyasovszky
- Zentrum für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie, Mainz, Germany
| Published: | October 22, 2019 |
|---|
Outline
Text
Objectives: Osgood-Schlatter disease is one of the most common causes of knee pain in the adolescent and male athletes are about 10 times more often affected than girls. The etiology is not completely understood. Among other things, recurrent contractures of the quadriceps tendon with a recurrent pull on the tibial tubercle seem to lead to apophysitis. The therapy usually includes a sport break with taking care of the affected leg. Physiotherapy and stretching exercises of the musculature are more often recommended. However, there is little evidence in literature for the effectiveness of these measures compared to sport break.
Methods: In the context of this study, the injury data of male junior players of a professional youth football club in the age groups under-11 to under-19 was collected over a period from 2005 to 2018 and was retrospectively evaluated. Overall, data from 683 players was included in the study. The diagnosis and the follow-up checks took place in one to three week intervals in a doctor's consultation at the youth football academy.
Results and conclusion: 44 players of the 683 examined players (mean age 12.3 ± 1.4 years) were affected by an Osgood-Schlatter disease (incidence of 0.46 injuries per player per season). The appearance in 40 players was unilateral, in 4 players bilateral. In our study there was a correlation between the time to return-to-play (RTP) and a one- or two-sided occurrence of the Osgood-Schlatter disease. Thus, players with unilateral complaints had a trend to shorter recovery time compared to bilateral occurrence. There was no association between age at first onset and RTP and no significant difference in recovery between players with a sports break and players undergoing physiotherapy. In summary, we could show that the bilateral occurrence of the Osgood-Schlatter disease results in a significantly longer recovery. Interestingly, in our patient collective, the time to return to play was not significantly affected by physiotherapy treatments compared to sport break.
