Manifestations of Osgood-Schiatter’s Disease in Late Teen Age and Early Adulthood

The syndrome of pain, swelling, and tenderness over the tibial tuberosity in children at time age of puberty with separation, fragmentation, and sclerosis of the tibia! timberosity and overlying soft-tissue swelling visible in the roentgeno-gram was first and independently reported as a pathological process by Osgood in the United States and by Schlatter in Germany in 1903. Both believed that traunma to time tibial tuberosity, either directly or indirectly by the pull of the patellar tendon, was time etiological factor and that partial or complete avulsion of the growing tibia! tuberosity occurred. Both authors described changes other than acute fracture or acute avulsion of time tibia! tuberosity which had been reported previously in the literature. Since 1903 time exact etiology of Osgood-Schlatter’s disease has been ques-tioned. The following causes imave been suggested in the literature, according to Aegerter and Kirkpatrick and King: (1) trauma to the tuberosity, with frac-ture; (2) trauma to the tuberosity, with aseptic necrosis; (3) trauma to the tuberosity, with inflammation; (4) localized infection in the tuberosity; (5 arterial embolism with aseptic necrosis of time tuberosity; (6) rickets; (7) toxic cimanges; (8) endocrine abnormalities; (9) developmental changes; and (10) traumatic changes in time lower part of time patellar tendon. Among time roentgenographic examinations of the knee made in the United States Arnmy Hospital, Ryukyu Islands, it was observed that there were wide variations in time roentgenographic appearance of the tibial tuberosity. Because of timis observation a study was initiated to clarify the significance of timese variations