The Algorithm for overload syndrome prevention: Osgood-Schlatter's syndrome (OSD) as an overload syndrome caused by early inclusion of children in sports and excessive physical activity (sports and recreation)

Abstract

Introduction: Osgood-Schlatter’s syndrome (Osgood-Schlatter disease [OSD]) is caused by an accumulation of repeated microtraumas and is classified as a type of chronic injury called “overload syndrome“. It is considered that the root causes of OSD are accelerated growth as well as excessive sports and recreational activity. Currently, more than 50% of children of school age are involved in sports activities. In this study, 40 external risk factors were analyzed. Considering that frequent medical examinations, expensive rehabilitation, time-consuming sports activities, and school obligations result in major socio-economic and financial consequences, a need to work on a preventive program was recognized. The aim of this study was to determine external risk factors and to develop an algorithm for the prevention of injuries caused by overload syndrome through a detailed analysis of Osgood-Schlatter’s syndrome concerning aerobic and anaerobic sports (football, basketball, karate, and taekwondo).

Methods: The research has been conducted on 200 patients who were previously diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter’s syndrome. The participants were divided into two groups, each containing 100 patients, first group – aerobic sports (football and basketball) and the second group – anaerobic sports (karate and taekwondo). Personal information, anthropometric measurements, complete medical, and sports history were taken from the patients. A clinical examination was conducted by the researcher himself. This clinical study was prospective, comparative, analytical, and descriptive. The research was conducted in the Public Center for Sports Medicine of Canton Sarajevo. Software used for statistical data analysis was SPSS for Windows (version 20.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) and Microsoft Excel (version 13 of Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA).

Results: Patients experienced the first symptoms of OSD at 4 years (football) and 6 years (taekwondo). About 60% of patients who trained in anaerobic sports and 38% of patients who trained in aerobic sports trained other sports more often as well. The research showed that a higher percentage of patients who trained anaerobic sports trained multiple sports at the same time (karate 88%, and taekwondo 82%) compared to patients who trained aerobic sports (football 68%, and basketball 76%). Patients who trained in anaerobic sports were also more likely to engage in recreational activities (58.3%) compared to patients who trained in aerobic sports (41.7%). On average, the number of hours per week which patients spent actively training (primary sport, additional sports activity, and recreational sport) was 17.2 h for basketball players, 16.8 h for taekwondo trainees, 16.7 h for caratists, and 15.7 h in case of football players. About 32% of football players, 24% of basketball players, 12% of karate trainees, and 18% of taekwondo trainees did not engage in additional sports or recreational activities. Only 36% of patients who trained in aerobic sports and 37% of patients who trained anaerobic sports respected the planned rest days, and in both groups, some subjects trained for 12 months.

Conclusion: The research showed that patients who trained in anaerobic sports more frequently trained more than one sport at the same time and spent more hours doing recreational activities compared to patients who trained in aerobic sports. By analyzing weekly physical activity, it was concluded that the rest is limited. Future research aims to identify risk factors so that children, parents, and trainers can be educated to work on prevention through teamwork.