My Recommendations

the bottom line

Would I Do It Over Again?


However, if you are considering surgery, do not expect to have the knee of a brand new baby. This surgery ended the pain and swelling in the patellar tendon for me, so it will probably do the same for you. You might have other issues besides the bone ossicles that might impact your recovery.

My Recommendations

  1. Do not have Osgood-Schlatter surgery until you are done growing.

    If you are like me, the pain will peak in late middle school/ early high school before receding until your late twenties or so, depending on you level of activity. You might be lucky and your pain will go away completely and not return. Surgery involves risks. Postpone it while you are growing.

  2. If OSD gives you pain in your twenties or later, then by all means have the surgery.

    For me, the excision of the ossicles was a complete success. Do not do what I did and battle pain and discomfort needlessly for 25 years. I wonder if doing so damaged my knee long term.

  3. If possible, avoid the knee scope.

    Don’t fix what isn’t broken. If you do not have any problems inside the knee joint, do not have your knee scoped. The knee scope itself has side effects that you should avoid if possible. Talk to your surgeon about skipping this step.

  4. Do not have the tibia shaved.

    My surgeon did not recommend this practice. Instead, I had the ossicles removed and left the rest of the "bump" as is. Shaving the tibia is much more invasive and not worth the risk IMHO.