Assessing Knee Stability in Adolescent Athletes with Osgood-Schlatter Disease Using the Y-Balance Test

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Osgood-Schlatter disease develops secondary to chronic patellar tendon overloading. The present study was designed to determine whether athletes with Osgood-Schlatter disease perform significantly worse in the Y-Balance Test compared to healthy subjects in a control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study involved ten boys (average age 13.7 years). Seven participants had bilateral knee pain, swelling and tenderness whereas three had unilateral knee pain, swelling and tenderness (left knee in two cases, and right knee in one). Overall, 17 knees were assessed (left knee in nine cases and right knee in eight).Ten healthy adolescent professional football players (mean age 14.6 years) were selected as a control group. In both groups, complex knee stability was assessed using the Y-Balance Test and their data were analyzed using the methodology developed by Plisky et al. The test outcome was expressed in indexed (normalized) values for the right and left lower extremities, and averaged values for the individual directions were compared. RESULTS Significant differences between both groups were shown in the posteromedial and posterolateral directions. CONCLUSIONS Using the Y-Balance Test, our study documented reduced performance in the above directions in patients with OsgoodSchlatter disease. Key words: Osgood-Schlatter disease, knee, balance test, movement patterns patellar tendon overload.