Treatment for Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease using The Strickland Protocol
Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease or Syndrome as it is also known is a painful condition which affects children and adolescents. It can however continue into adulthood. It usually strikes during a growth spurt and affects millions of active children every year- up to 30% of overuse injuries in this age group, according to international research.
The presenting symptom is typically intense knee pain. It usually occurs during sporting activities such as running and jumping and also every day activities such as going up and down stairs. Pain varies with activity and is often intermittent . In the acute phase the pain can be severe and continuous in nature. The impact of the condition can be very disabling and may even affect both knees at the same time.
It is usually quite straight forward to tell if your child has Osgood-Schlatter’s. Firstly the child will usually 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 very tender to touch.
There are a limited variety of treatment for Osgood Schlatters commonly available to sufferers. The present standard treatment advice is to treat the symptoms of Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease. That’s Rest, Ice, Compression to reduce the pain and swelling, anti-inflammatory medication and modification of sporting activities.
This advice does not address the cause of the problem. This means that 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 subside as they finish their growth spurt. So if you do nothing it will finally settle in two to three years, although the lump may remain.
There is a new treatment which has been scientifically proven at The European College of Sports Science Conference; Lisbon Portugal, 2008. The treatment is known at the “Strickland Protocol” and the results showed that : “All patients achieved a full loading to the tendon in an average of 20 days (±12). This was significant to 98% (p
The “Strickland Protocol” is readily available online and comes with support throughout the treatment from Jenny Strickland, a leading Chartered Physiotherapist and creator of the protocol. The child can become pain free and cured of Osgood-Schlatter’s Disease within 3 weeks. The protocol consists of several minutes of simple home treatment each day. However the child must completely refrain from all sporting activities during the treatment and the protocol must be strictly followed to achieve the quickest results.
Find help and support online at Osgood Schlatter Disease Support webpage.
