Recovery & Support for Osgood-Schlatter Disease

Most symptoms of Osgood-Schlatter disease disappear when a child completes his or her adolescent growth spurt.

As your child heals, NYU Langone specialists can advise you on how to ease your child back into physical activity and offer guidance on how to prevent future knee pain during sports. Our child and family support services and resilience programs are provided by Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care.

Physical Therapy

Most children and teens with Osgood-Schlatter disease do not require rehabilitation. However, if your child’s mobility and weight-bearing activities are restricted, NYU Langone specialists may recommend physical therapy to help your child regain range of motion, muscle strength, and joint flexibility in the knee. 

NYU Langone pediatric rehabilitation specialists at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital and Rusk Rehabilitation offer outpatient physical therapy to help your child ease back into everyday activities, including sports. NYU Langone physical therapists use the recommendations of our pediatric orthopedists to design a program of therapeutic exercises tailored to meet your child’s needs.

Stretching Exercises

After your child’s symptoms have subsided, his or her doctor may recommend stretching exercises for the quadriceps, the group of muscles in the front of the thigh, to reduce tension on the tibial tubercle. Stretching exercises for the hamstrings—the muscles in the back of the thigh, which are commonly tight—may also be performed.

NYU Langone doctors and physical therapists can also instruct you and your child in additional strength and flexibility exercises that can be performed at home.