A. <18-year-old – Osgood-Schlatter disease/Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome
Intro: Osgood-Schlatter disease/Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome involves irritation to the growth plates on either the top of the shin bone (Osgood-Schlatter) or on the bottom of the kneecap (Sinding-Larsen-Johansson). These two bones are connected by the patella tendon.
Symptoms: Pain on knee extension and is a common cause of knee pain in young athletes.
Treatment: Activity modification, stretching of the quadriceps muscles, physical therapy, and medication. Temporary use of a patella tendon strap may help offset the stress from the growth plates. Symptoms typically resolve once growth plate closes.
B. >18-year-old – Patellar tendonitis (Jumper’s Knee)
Intro: Patellar tendonitis involves inflammation of the tendon connecting the kneecap to the shin bone.
Symptoms: Pain on motion of the knee and if a common cause of knee pain in athletes.
Treatment: Activity modification, stretching of the quadriceps muscles, physical therapy, and medication. Temporary use of a patella tendon strap may help. Regenerative treatment such as plasma rich platelet (PRP) injection, which promotes healing of the tendon, is another treatment modality for this condition. Surgery can be done on rare refractory cases.
Patella Tendon Strap
The patella tendon strap is a device used to stabilized the patella tendon during activity use. Temporary use of the strap during activity use may help in conditions such as Patellar tendonitis (Jumper’s Knee) or Osgood-Schlatter disease/Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome.
