Hyperosmolar dextrose injection for Osgood-Schlatter disease: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial

Osgood-Schlatter disease (OSD) is one of the common causes of long-term knee pain, leading to functional limitations, long-term deformity of the tubercle interfering with kneeling, and impaired peer-important sport participation. Nonetheless, patient management continues to rely on the usual conservative methods. This study examined the use of hyperosmolar dextrose injection in patients with OSD.

We conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial involving 70 patients with OSD. One group received a hyperosmolar dextrose injection (12.5%), while the other received a saline injection. The injections were conducted under ultrasound guidance. The Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment (VISA) score was used to assess each patient's pain and sport level.

The dextrose group outperformed the saline group in improvement in the VISA-Patella (VISA-P) score from baseline to 3 months (27.1 ± 6.5 vs. 1.4 ± 2.6; mean difference 25.4 (22.4 to 28.3); p < .0001), 6 months (31.7 ± 7.9 vs. 25.2 ± 7.8; mean difference 6.2 (3.2 to 9.4); p < .0001), and 12 months (34 ± 9.0 vs. 28.2 ± 7.5; mean difference 5.5 (1.9 to 9.1); p = .0026). The changes in both groups were clinically important, suggesting that both therapies were active treatments. The dextrose group improved too rapidly for spontaneous improvement to explain much of this change.

After three injections, at the 6-month and 12-month follow-up visits, the VISA-P scores of the two groups were significantly improved; the dextrose group score was better than the saline group score, and there were significant differences between the two groups.